Aerials
by Igrewinlovewithyoursins
Summary: Fran has been away on a mission for 8 years. Bel pays him a visit. Very melodramatic, like seriously haha, with occasional humor here and there. Rated T for language, under age drinking, and some scenes I'm considering writing. Mostly OOC but c'est la vie :
1. We lose ourselves but we find it all

Hello there, it's been a while hasn't it? I really can't promise that I'll write more, I'm kinda going on a whim. I haven't written in a while, but a certain friend of mines encouraged me to write something, and so this is for her. I told myself that I would only write it if I had the whole story in my head rather than making shit up as I go along, and well I did it :) This will probably be 15 chapters long, how I have it planned out anyway.

This chapter will be very OOC, but bear with me it won't be for long. As the summary says, Fran hasn't been around Bel for 8 years and the time has really changed them. We all grow up eventually, but maybe they'll find themselves? :) Actually this whole story will be somewhat OOC because I'm writing the characters with the personalities that I had written in my earlier stories. Yes I've kept up with Reborn and know the characters I depict are not the same as the actual story, but you know, it's FF so what can you expect? I like the way I depicted them before so... yee.

Rated T for language, under age drinking, and some scenes I've considered writing.

Summary: Fran has been away on a mission for 8 years. Bel pays him a visit. Very melodramatic, like seriously haha, with occasional humor here and there. Chapters are songs that I feel fit the episode ;)

Start the story already dammit...

* * *

Aerials

1. We lose ourselves but we find it all

_Aerials- System of a Down_

When one is being followed, some logical reactions would be to panic, scream, or run. Anything that attracts the attention of bystanders or whatnot.

But not our green-haired protagonist apparently.

Right now what he wanted was to be followed, which was great, because he was.

This was part of an assignment 8 years in the making, and it was all going to pay off right now.

Fran quietly turned into an alley. It was a dark night, the kind of night you could hold your hand out in front of you and not see a thing. But even with that, Fran could find the fire escape; his pursuers were not far behind. After his rehearsed three flights of stairs he slid a window open, slipping his thin frame inside.

Once inside Fran felt a sudden rush of adrenaline, the closer he got to the end, the sooner this would be over. It was still dark but a faded light could be seen from the hallway. He followed it to its source, a crack under a door. He entered the door to find a dead end.

Meanwhile, his pursuers were in the hall. Who they were was still unknown, but that didn't matter at the moment. All that did was that they were after this young man, as if their life depended on it.

They got to the door and tore it open, but as soon as they did the lights went out.

It was quiet for a second, then there was a crash, something fell, another grunted.

The lights came back on.

A well-dressed man stood in the center with a stunned look on his face. A number of bigger unconscious men lay on the floor, dead or not. There was nothing else in the pale orange room but a table and a light bulb.

The man was now confused, where had the young man gone?

At the moment he thought it, the only window in the room burst, and a couple of knives flew into the man's chest.

He gasped, fell to his knees, and then forward on his face digging the knives further into his abdomen.

The orange room faded into a better lit white one, the green haired young man reappearing with it.

He was taken back, that hadn't been part of the plan. Quickly he realized what had happened, walked over to the mauled body, and kicked over to confirm.

He turned to the window, there appeared to be nothing outside it, but he knew better.

"What the hell!?"

At first there was nothing, as if there was going to be no response at all.

But then a shadow of a man stepped in through the window.

"Hello frog."

...

The duo was now sitting in Fran's apartment. Well the blond stranger sat while Fran paced back and forth in front of him.

"What is wrong with you?" He began but could not find words to continue.

"I haven't seen you in 8 years and that's all you can say?" The blond grinned a familiar wide grin.

"Exactly! Ten years of my work! Gone! Are you aware of what you have done?" The younger man was having a different reaction than Bel had expected. It was a bit more of a reaction, but he liked this reaction better.

"You seem mad." He was still grinning.

"I am unbelievably mad." He half yelled, very unconvincingly, but it was true. Fran had been working on this assignment for such a long time, he had never worked for something so hard, and he never cared for something so much. "What's your problem?"

"I see you found some emotions in the last 8 years." Bel smirked, "And apparently lost all respect for your sempai."

"I never had respect for you; you have the mind of a 5 year old." Fran glared at his sempai, he still hadn't answered his question. "Why arree youu hereeeee!?"

"You were taking forever on this mission." Bel answered simply.

"You know how long this assignment was _supposed _to take!?" Fran couldn't believe this, "This was a mission estimated to take 20 years. The fact that I did it in 8 is amazing! I mean ALMOST did it in 8. Why'd you kill him!?"

The blond thought then shrugged, "Weren't you gonna kill him anyway?"

"Yeah-" He shook his head, "No, I don't know, I needed something from him! What am I going to do now?!"

They sat in silence for a while.

"I could help you."

Fran wasn't sure what he believed less, his sempai offering to help, or the fact that he hadn't laughed at him since he had gotten here. As he observed closer, he discovered that Bel wasn't even wearing the tiara that had labeled him the prince he claimed to be.

He looked tired. It was strange.

Times change, people change.

But it didn't seem like Bel had grown up at all.

"No. You have to leave."

"Why?"

"You're the reason I left." Fran realized that he had said that harsher than he had meant it.

"Ouch." Bel didn't hurt Fran as he had expected.

"That's not what I meant, but you know-"

"Know what?"

"You know what you did okay."

"What happened that night? Or?"

"No, okay no." Fran turned to Bel, "That night, whatever you _think_ happened probably didn't happen okay? And if it did I didn't do it on purpose? It was you, all you, you're so manipulative, it was all you okay?" Fran was losing it.

"That's not how I remember it." Fran couldn't see Bel's eyes but he could tell what his expression was like under that hair. A curious expression.

"Well then you don't remember it correctly."

"Fran, I remember what happened, but I remember what happened after too. I came to apologiz-"

"No, you're not apologizing for anything. Nothing happened."

Bel looked at his companion, almost disappointed, "You've grown up."

Fran turned away, "I'm tired, I'm going to bed, you can take the couch, there are some blankets in that closet."

Bel didn't protest, he hadn't been told to leave again, he didn't _really_ want him to leave, Bel didn't want to leave. Fran went into the kitchen, looked through some cupboards, and then made his way to his room.

"Good night." He said sternly, shutting the door behind him.

Bel continued to stare at the door for a good while.

"I missed you too frog.

Bel and Fran weren't as they remembered each other to be, both thought as they faded into sleep. Had time changed them? Or were they simply broken?

* * *

So the rest of the chapters won't have that hella long intro at the beginning (those irritate me). Also I am in college but my grammar is still the worst. My apologies.

Anyway I don't own KHR I do this for fun so yeah :)

I hope you'll continue to read on.

Have a wonderful day!


	2. While our blood's still young

2. While our blood's still young.

_Sweet Disposition- The Temper Trap_

_-italics=flashback-_

_Fran was tired of the massive party taking place at the Varia mansion. It was nearing 2 a.m. and Fran was exhausted. It didn't look like the party was going to die down anytime soon, so Fran headed over to the place he _knew_ was deserted, even when there wasn't a party taking place._

_The library._

_He cracked opened the door and quickly slipped inside, so no one would see him. _

_He had been drinking but he wasn't drunk. He always just drank enough to tune out Squalo's karaoking and Levi's constant bitching. _

_Speaking of Levi, it looked like he had gotten the same idea as Fran because he was sprawled on the floor snoring. _

_Fran took the armchair, curling up into a ball, tempted to take off the frog hat that seemed to get heavier by the second. He decided against it as seemed Bel-sempai had a 5th sense about it._

_He was finally starting to drift off when Bel and Squalo entered the library. Quite loudly one might add._

_"Ushishishi, Lus is gonna kill you when he find out you threw up in the garden." _

_Squalo grunted, "He's never gonna find out, no one knows other than you brat and if you open your trap I'm going to drive those knives of yours so far up your ass you-"_

_The door burst open; Fran was starting to hate this plan. He should have just hid in his room._

_"Squalo, Xanxus is looking for you haha!" It was the baseball guy, Fran could never remember his name, especially now._

_"Fuck!" Squalo swore._

_"Ushishishi, I'm pretty sure that's what he wants too." Bel smirked._

_"Oh shut it." Squalo glared at him, then turned to Yamamoto, "Oi, tell me do I smell like puke?"_

_"Uh no?" Yamamoto was also drunk, he appeared more confused than ever. "Haha Luss is freaking out over some puke he found in his flowers though." _

_"Ushishishi."_

_"Yeah yeah go fuck yourself." Squalo said following Yamamoto out the door. _

_Fran was hoping that Bel had followed them, but knew he was hoping wrong._

_Bel walked over to Levi and kicked him in the gut. Levi yelped in pain._

_"What the fuck!?" _

_Bel kicked him again. "Out now."_

_Levi was still drunk out of his mind, ergo had no words just babble. And with that he stumbled out of the room._

_Bel then walked up behind the armchair. Fran curled up into a tighter ball hoping he hadn't been seen. Still, he was wrong. _

_Bel kicked the armchair to topple over, and Fran tumbled out of it. _

_"Urghh.. sempai..." Fran wasn't going to move for a while, so he just lay there on the floor. His hat was a nice pillow._

_"Ushishishi, frog entertain the prince." Bel demanded as he took the armchair._

_"Urghhhhhhh... too... dead..."_

_A couple of knives flew into his back._

_He waited a minute before sighing and sitting up. He removed the knives and examined them._

_"How do you...?" He turned to Bel and pretended to aim. Then he actually tried to throw one at him but it flopped over to the side of the chair. _

_Fran expected Bel to laugh and throw some more knives at him to demonstrate 'how', but instead Bel patted the arm of the chair._

_"Come." He said simply._

_Fran dragged himself over and took the seat, handing Bel the rest of the knives._

_Bel took one and pointed at the portrait of Xanxus across from them that hung over the chimney. And with a flick of his wrist the knife was in between Xanxus's forehead. _

_"Could you show me again?" Fran joked. _

_"Princes don't repeat themselves for commoners."_

_Fran rolled his eyes, took the last knife and threw it at the wall like one would fling a baseball. It bounced hard off the wall and the mantle, landing on the floor in front of it._

_"Perfect." He announced, "Better than yours no offense."_

_Bel hmph-ed._

_They sat in an unfamiliar silence._

_"Frog."_

_"Yee?"_

_"What was momma frog like?"_

_"Who?"_

_"Momma Frog."_

_"Ah..." Bel had never asked Fran a personal question like this, "Well... she was pretty I think, my dad called her his emerald. She also had the green hair-eye thing going on. She would sing a lot, but I don't really remember really."_

_"She dead?" _

_"Yee, both my parents were murdered when I was 3, lived with my grandma since then."_

_"Hmm..."_

_"What about your mom?" Fran asked curiously eyeing him, he suddenly felt the heaviness of the night._

_Bel didn't respond for a while. Fran almost didn't expect a response._

_"She was vain, pretty though. A very strong woman, very smart." Fran looked at the crown on his sempai's head, plucking it off gently and quite sneakily as well. _

_Bel continued without notice. "She died when I was 12, got some weird disease. My dad shot himself, and Siel and I took care of the rest house."_

_"Whoa..." Fran examined the tiara in his hand, it was a lot more detailed than her expected to be. "I'm sorry."_

_"Eeh." Bel shrugged but Fran knew he cared. _

_He tried to sneak the crown back on but lost his balance as he set it in Bel's hair. He slipped off the arm of the chair and onto Bel's lap. _

_"Er, sorry." He said as he scrambled to get off, but Bel grasped his arm._

_"Why you so flustered froggy?" He asked. _

_"I'm not-I-" He stopped his reactions were slower than usual thanks to the drinks he had earlier._

_"Are you drunk?"_

_"I had a couple of drinks, I'm not drunk though." _

_He could feel his sempai eyeing him suspiciously under his hair. _

_His hair... Fran reached over unconsciously, touching his face with his small hand. What were his eyes like?_

_Bel grabbed his hand before he could continue. _

_Fran observed his hand, the skills that he had admired in his sempai..._

_His sempai always made him feel so warm on the inside; the feelings he'd yet to understand were overwhelming. Maybe it was the liquor, or maybe it was just the timing, but Fran slowly leaned forward and kissed him._

_And once more._

_And again, this time Bel kissed back._

_Another._

_Maybe one more._

_Then at last, Fran comes to his senses._

_What was he doing? He jumped back. Overwhelmed once more. What had he done? _

_"S-sorry!" He choked out softly, before rushing out of the room and up to his bedroom without stopping once._

* * *

_Eeh? Eeh? :) _


	3. You are my sweetest downfall

3. You are my sweetest downfall... I loved you first.

_Samson- Regina Spektor_

Bel woke up around noon. The whole north side of the apartment was made of window rather than wall. The drapes were drawn open to the view of the city. It was cloudy but bright outside, giving everything a blue tint.

Fran didn't look to be home, and it looked like he had been out all morning.

Bel hadn't brought an extra change of clothes, so he figured he'd go shopping. First, perhaps he'd grab something to eat. He looked inside Fran's fridge and found some bagels along with strawberry crème. He had that with some OJ and was about to head out when there was a knock at the door.

Looking from the peek hole the visitor looked like Mukuro's girlfriend, or whoever. Bel opened the door.

"Oh," Chrome wasn't expecting to see Bel, "Is Fran home?"

"Uh... no." Bel held the door open, "I don't think he'll be long thou-"

"No it's okay, can you just make sure he gets this." She handed him a manila folder. "Thank you." She bowed before waving. "Bye."

Bel put the folder on the coffee table, maybe he shouldn't have left it lying out like that but he figured it would be fine. He locked the door as he left anyway.

...

Meanwhile Fran had far beyond finished his errands. He was sitting at a pub across from his apartment building, trying to forget everything.

Why? This was already forgotten.

He ordered another drink. Hell knows what it was, but he was going to try all the drinks, he wasn't planning on going home anytime soon.

...

_Fran tried to sneak into breakfast quietly but Lus was already super pissed about the garden, and he absolutely could not stand anyone being late for breakfast._

_"Frannie what took you so long?!" Lus snapped from the kitchen. Fran swore he had like eyes everywhere in the house. "Cold pancakes for you!"_

_"Blech" Squalo said barely walking in as well. "Pancakes is that what we're having... gross I'll have some orange juice."_

_"Get it yourself then." Luss said bringing Fran's cold pancakes. "I spend my morning making you all this delicious food and you're not even going to try it!" _

_He was irritated and hung over, like everyone else in the house. _

_Squalo looked at the pancakes and gagged. "The smell, fuck, I think I'm going to throw up." He said leaving the room._

_"Disgusting." Luss said sitting down at the long table. _

_"Ushishishi," Bel smirked from his seat across from Fran, "Some people just can't handle alcohol well."_

_Fran kept his eyes on his food, but was sure Bel was smirking at him. _

_"Tell me about it," Luss was always in the mood to gossip, "I heard from that cutie Ryohei that Basil was running around thinking he was an emu. Adorable until he passed out with his head in the toilet."_

_"Ew." Bel frowned._

_"Yes I'm also pretty sure that red head kid is in one of the closets somewhere. I was cleaning up and he was in my way." _

_"Ushishishi are you sure he's not dead?"_

_"Naw I would know, he's still alive."_

_"Drunk people are amusing." Bel said glancing at Fran again._

_"Did you drink Bel?" Luss asked. "I don't recall you being drunk."_

_"Ushishishi I did, the prince isn't a drunk idiot like most peasants."_

_"What about you Fran? I don't remember you being there at all, but then again I don't remember anything that happened after they busted out the vodka." _

_"Oh just a little." Fran shrugged still not looking up._

_"I'll bet." Bel grinned. _

_"That's good I suppose." Luss leaned back in his chair before getting up, "I'ma go make something for Squa's hangover, and while I'm at it I'll check up on the boss~"_

_Bel laughed, "I wouldn't bother him for a while."_

_Luss made a face as if he were thinking it over. "Yeah you're right, I'll check up on him in an hour or two."_

_Fran picked at his food for a moment. Bel was still staring at him with that grin plastered on his face. Finally he collected his plate and exited into the kitchen when it became unbearable. _

_Then exited through the back door and climbed in through his bedroom window._

_He wasn't going to leave the comfort of his room for a couple of days._

_..._

_Okay that is physically impossible in this house. An hour later Luss had summoned Fran down to the kitchen for who knows what. Fran was trying his best to avoid pretty much everyone. _

_Some guards were coming down the hall, Fran considered going a different way but they were just guards._

_As they got closer Fran caught a piece of the conversation._

_"-through the window. When we were outside hiding from that crazy chick, Bianci."_

_"So what he's a fucking faggot? Everyone in this fucking house is dammit."_

_"I heard that Bel was disgusted."_

_They quieted as they passed Fran, but continued some feet after._

_"Well he sure looks like a fag." _

_The other two guards chuckled._

_To Fran's horror, he realized that they were talking about him._

_..._

_Down in the kitchen Luss sat with Bel conversing. _

_"No the frog did it, he's an idiot."_

_Fran quickly turned on his heel and walked back out of the room. _

_What the hell? Why was he telling people about it? Fran thought as he quickly made his way outside. _

_Fran knew why, because he was a jerk. And to him Fran was just the annoying twerp he babysat. Fran and his stupid little crush could go to hell for all he cared. _

_He didn't know where he was going he just kept walking, till he found himself in the woods, lost. _

_When his legs finally gave out, he curled up into a ball and hid. From what? Who knows._

_He felt a drop on his knee._

_Then another._

_And another two._

_He touched his hand to his cheek in awe._

_He was crying._

_…_

Bel had returned to the apartment around 6, Fran still hadn't been home. He waited half an hour before giving up and pick locking the door.

Now it was around 9. Bel was watching some cop show.

He jumped a bit when Fran's door burst open.

The light from the hall outlined Fran's figure as he came in and shut the door behind him.

"Hey what took you? Chrome came by earlier-"

"Holy fuck!" Fran jumped back, "I forgot you were here."

"Ah…" Bel studied Fran as he flopped on the other sofa. "Have you been drinking?"

"I'm wasted." Fran smiled funny.

"You do that often?" The blond observed his friend sprawled out on the couch.

"Naw, today was just one of those days…" He laughed, something that Bel had never witnessed before. "I'm so fucked."

"Why?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do with my mission, but hell with it, I'll just shoot myself."

Bel couldn't tell if he was being serious or…

"You know what?" Fran continued, "You should do it, go ahead stab me to death, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it."

"Yeah you're wasted." Bel smirked.

"Beyond." Fran got up went to the kitchen; he came back with a bottle of scotch. "I've never had this before, but Luss gave it to me when I moved here."

"Oh no you don't." Bel said grabbing the bottle from him, "You're going to kill yourself."

"Commonnnnnn…" Fran reached for it but Bel was still stronger and taller than him. "You're so lammeeeeee…"

Finally Fran gave up and flopped back on the couch.

"You're laaaammmmeee." He repeated.

Bel took the bottle back to the kitchen, when he returned Fran was looking through the manila folder.

"Is it anything helpful?" He asked sitting down.

"I… can't tell really," Fran squinted at the papers. "I can't process it right now."

He got up to put the papers away and came back throwing himself on the sofa.

"Good night." He mumbled into the pillow.

"Yeah no," Bel said getting up. "Where am I supposed to sleep if you pass out here?"

"Common your bed isn't that far away." He tugged at the younger man.

"Ergghhhhhh." Fran moaned.

Bel kept tugging till he finally got up. He flopped onto the floor and started to crawl towards his door.

"Really?" Bel grinned before going over and pulling him up, putting his arm over Bel's shoulder for support. He walked him to his bed, helped the incoherent Fran take off his shoes and get in bed.

"Sempai?" The blond was surprised he could still talk.

"Yeah?"

"What happened to your crown?"

Bel chuckled for the first time in forever. He shrugged, "I guess I just grew out of it?"

"Ah yeah you need a bigger crown like for a king right? Cuz now you're old and stuff."

"Uh.." Bel wasn't _that _ old.

"So now you like, King the Ripper? Does that mean you need like a new laugh too?"

Bel smiled, "Fran go to sleep."

"Okayyyyy you lame-oooo"

"Good night Fran."

"Good night Sempai."

"Sempai?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Bel smiled "I know."

"Good" Fran mumbled before passing out.

Bel shut the door and went to his couch.

* * *

Fran must have a high tolerance for alcohol if he drank everything on the menu :)


	4. But if you let go

4. But if you let go.

_Control- Metro Station_

The next morning Fran remembered nothing from the previous night.

The duo sat at the table by the window.

"According to some information Chrome's team uncovered, the man's brother might be able to help me." Fran read as he ate his cereal.

Bel was having strawberries for breakfast, Fran had originally offered them for his cereal but the blond preferred the sweet/tart fruit on its own.

"And where do you suppose we'd find his brother?"

"I _know _where we're going to find his brother. He's a loan shark at a club downtown."

"So you're going to?"

"Talk to him." Fran said simply, but Bel got the feeling that it wasn't just going to be a talk.

"Ah, can I come with?"

"I suppose, but this time let me talk to him before you kill him."

Bel grinned, "Fine."

…

The music was blaring loudly and colored lights danced to a bass that shook the building.

Fran weaved in through the crowd trying to avoid the touchy sweaty people around him. He was dressed nice but casual. Skinny jeans with a loose dress shirt and tie.

Bel stood by a pillar upstairs, signaling Fran to follow him to the VIP lounge. Fran made his way to the stairs and followed his friend at a distance.

"Sorry." Fran apologized to a man who had bumped into him as he rushed out of the lounge. The man tipped his hat and returned the apology.

When he caught up Bel, he nodded his head towards the back of the room. "He's in the last booth."

"That's odd there are no guards." Bel noted.

"I noticed." Fran said picking up the pace. "Something's wrong."

They got to the last booth and ripped the curtains open. The light had been on but there was no one in the booth, but there was something hanging from the light fixture in the center of the ceiling. It was a yellow plastic bag with splotches of red all over. It was also dripping red onto the table.

Bel used a knife to peek inside it. "It's a head."

"His brother's." Fran confirmed analyzing the situation. "Who beat us to him?"

"It's fresh."

Fran's eyes widened. He sprinted back out of the room.

Bel followed him out of the lounge, down the stairs and out the door.

In the street Fran looked down both sides of the street, but the stranger he had bumped into was nowhere to be seen. He probably had a car. As he thought this, the stranger stepped out of an alley and walked briskly in the opposite direction.

"There!" Fran motioned for Bel to follow.

Not long after the stranger noticed the duo and took on a run. Bel and Fran followed to do the same.

The stranger ducked into another alley, then after turning a couple of corners they found themselves surround by dozens of men.

Bel immediately started to take them out, "Don't let him leave!" He motioned to the stranger.

Fran continued to follow him, but there were too many men, even if Bel was going through them fast. One of the men grabbed Fran's arm, and another took a swing at him. He fell to the floor and they started to kick him.

The stranger from the club smirked as he exited through another alleyway. But as soon as he turned the corner he had the wind knocked out of him. The green haired young man from the club appeared at his side. He whipped out a knife and lunged at him. As he did Fran dissolved and reappeared behind the man. He kicked him to the floor and whipped out a gun.

"Hey there." The young man spoke pointing the weapon at him. "I'm sorry I just need this."

He leaned over and took the paper the man had been clutching in his hand. The terrified man searched his pockets but as he thought, the gun being pointed at him was his own.

Fran unfolded the paper and it indeed was what he was looking for. He refolded it and tucked it away.

He shot the man and returned to the opening. He used the stranger's knife and gun to take out a couple of goons, slowly making his way to his sempai. When the men realized that the duo wasn't going to back of easily, they started to retreat, assuming that their companion had gotten away safely.

"We can go now." Fran announced.

Bel just nodded and the two disappeared.

* * *

Considered sticking this with the next chapter, but my laziness won. :)


	5. There's no real love in you

5. There's no real love in you.

_Automatic- Tokio Hotel_

Fran was exhausted, although he was not entirely sure why. The fight hadn't made him tired; the drive back did for some reason.

He opened the door and the two went inside.

"Urgh… I don't even remember there being that much blood." They weren't drenched in blood, just some splatter here and then, but still.

"I don't either." Bel said taking off his jacket.

"Do you want to shower first? Or should I?" Fran knew that if his sempai went first he'd probably fall asleep during the time he took to take a shower. "Orrrrr…"

Bel took off his shoes and looked up at Fran's curious expression.

"We could shower at the same time?" His voice drifted as he took off his tie and tossed it on the couch.

Bel rose an eyebrow.

"Or maybe…" Fran shyly approached his sempai, "We could not shower at all?"

Bel caught Fran's scent mixed with the sweet smell of blood.

He studied Fran. Fran looked at the floor.

"If you don't- I mean I don't – I do- but it wouldn't mean anything. I just this one time-" He looked up at him again. "I'm sorry."

He started to walk towards his room. "I'm just tired I don't know what I'm saying."

Bel grabbed his arm, "Are you sure?"

Fran looked at him, trying to study his expression, unable to get anything out of it.

He felt that warmness he hadn't felt in so long.

Bel took his face and kissed him once.

"I'm just so tired." Fran said softly.

"Of?" Bel asked kissing him again.

"I don't know." He said finally giving in and returning the kiss.

Bel picked him up, he was so light and small, as if he were still a child, and carried him to his bedroom.

* * *

This chapter kind of tied in with the last one, I don't know why I made it into two. Don't worry the next one will be longer. Originally this one was a bit longer, with more talking, but I decided to leave all the explanation for the next chapter :3 Which is already typed out but I'll probably post tomorrow or Sunday. :)

Also originally this chapter had more description, but since I didn't want to change the rating I just left it to the imagination. I'm sorry if it is confusing, but just to make it clear, yes Fran just asked Bel for sex, or tried to anyway :3


	6. You keep me on the edge

6. You keep me on the edge.

_Bite My Tongue- You me at Six_

By the time Bel had woken up the next morning, Fran had showered, done laundry, had breakfast and had gone to do errands.

He lay on the bed staring at the ceiling for 5 minutes or so before deciding to take a shower himself.

He was sitting at the table eating breakfast when there was a knock on the door. Fran was never around for his visitors, he probably did it on purpose.

This time it wasn't anyone Bel recognized, he guessed it was a neighbor or something of the sort. He opened the door.

"Um.. hey…" The girl looked confused. She glanced at the numbers on the door then back at Bel. "Is Fran home?"

"He's not…" So this girl knew Fran, who was she?

"I'm sorry who are you?"

"A friend, I've been crashing here for the last couple days do you want me to tell him anything or?"

"Uh no it's fine, just let him know I dropped by." She smiled wearily, and turned to leave.

"Wait," Bel called out, "Your name?"

"Oh yeah Natalie."

…

"Natasha."

"Who?" Fran had returned an hour later, they were having lunch despite the fact that Bel had just eaten breakfast.

"She was short, ruby red hair, short… and short."

"Oh, Natalie?" Fran now knew who Bel was talking about.

"Yeah. Who is she?"

"Ahh yeah she's my girlfriend." Fran admitted plainly, eyeing his sempai.

"Huh," Bel grinned, "nice of you to have mentioned her."

"Well I never found it relevant." Fran said shrugging, "What was I supposed to say? 'Hey Sempai you fucked over my mission also I have a girlfriend.'?"

"Or what about 'sempai spend the night with me, also I have a girlfriend.'?" Bel couldn't help grinning, he found this amusing.

Fran made a face of consideration, "I suppose you have a point."

"You gonna tell her you're gay?"

"First of all it was a onetime thing, like I said it was going to be." Fran was adorable, "You know it'd been such a long time, I just needed to get it out of my system."

"Get what out of your system?" Bel inquired still smiling, but Fran continued without regard.

"Second, I am not gay, I'm simply an open person." Fran hardly believed that himself, Bel stared at him for a moment before laughing.

"Ah I see…"He teased, "So you're not going to tell her?"

"Nope."

"So last night never happened?"

"I guess it didn't."

"That's a little not fair, isn't it?"

"I guess, but you-" Fran looked for words. "You know I can't- You can't expect- I liked you sempai, I liked you a lot. But now it's different, I understand now. This won't ever be serious, there's just- it's too complicated and I can't deal with it. The past is in the past; yesterday I was just overcome, like it finally hit me that you were here. I just wanted to see what it would be like?"

"And how was it?" Bel understood what Fran was saying which was weird for him. Bel wasn't the type of person one could easily communicate with.

"It was nice," Fran stared at his sempai, "thanks."

His sempai half smiled, leaning back in his chair. "Good."

Bel was so different now. What had happened to him?

…

_"Kufufu you took your sweet ass time opening the door." _

_Fran had contemplated not opening the door for Mukuro at all, but he knew better. _

_"Mukuro-sama, what brings you…" Fran asked but didn't really. Usually he'd just send Chrome._

_"Just checking up on your mission." Mukuro let himself in and took a seat at the table. Fran was just about to eat, but now Mukuro was helping himself._

_"Oh it's going swell…" _

_"Having fun on your own?" The blue-haired man took a bite out of Fran's cheesecake, and then resumed to eat the rest of it. "You know if you ever need any help, don't ask me." _

_"Thanks Master Mukuro." Fran rolled his eyes._

_"So how's life?" Mukuro set the small now empty plate down and smiled at Fran. _

_"Just tell me." Fran wasn't an idiot, there was another reason for Mukuro's visit._

_"Kufufu smart you are." He stood up and walked to the window. "It's none of my business, but I was at Xanxus's place the other day, and things have really changed around there."_

_"Really?" Fran didn't believe it. _

_"A bit yeah, mostly the young Belphegor kid…. Something's off with him."_

_Fran froze. He was tired of it. Ever since He left all he would hear was 'poor Bel', 'Bel this, Bel that'. Fran didn't care. He knew they knew. He also knew Bel didn't give two shits about Fran leaving. _

_"Why you too?" He glared at the back of Mukuro's head. "I don't care. How is this related to me? What am I supposed to about it? I'm tired of you all haranguing me about it. If he has a problem with me then he can tell me himself, he doesn't care either. It's been a year, I don't care anymore. Leave me alone."_

_Mukuro looked back at the boy, confused. "I'm sorry, I didn't know, they've been haranguing you about it? It was just an observation; I didn't think it would upset you that bad." He really didn't understand Fran's reaction, Fran rarely reacted to anything. "Seems you guys had a falling out then, that would explain it. Well I do not wish to intervene; I don't care enough to do so, so I shall see you around young one." And that he evaporated into the air._

_…_

_Previously:_

_"So how are you settling in?" Luss asked over the phone. _

_"Didn't you ask me that when you visited me a week after I moved here?" Fran smiled, but he would he'd never admit that he had missed Lussuria. He was like a mother. _

_"Yes, but now it's two weeks later and I had to restrain myself from rushing over there to check up on you again!" He gasped, "Oh Frannie I miss you so much! I've been so lonely; you know no one else likes to keep me company."_

_"I know, I'm sorry Luss."_

_"Fran…" Lussuria's voice became serious. "I'm worried about Bel… I don't know what happened between you guys but you should talk to him."_

_"Luss… I can't. I already told you. He doesn't want to talk to me; if he did he would have already."_

_"I know but Bel isn't the type of person to ask for help…"_

_"Well I'm not the type of person to go to help." Fran sighed. "Luss I'm sorry but I have to go."_

_…_

_Previous to that:_

_"Frannie!" Luss ran up to the boy with a crushing hug._

_"Luss…" Fran gasped for air. "How are you here?"_

_It had been a week since he had moved here. He hadn't even finished unpacking his stuff and here was Lussuria visiting him already._

_"Oh Frannie I was just around the neighborhood and decided to see how you were doing!" _

_"Luss, you live on the other side of the planet." Fran stated plainly._

_"I know!" Luss squeezed the boy harder. "But you're too young to be on your own! You're only 16! Oh… my god…" He patted the boy's head. "Your hat!" _

_"Yes my hat."_

_"When did you take it off?!"_

_"The second I got on the plane."_

_Lussuria laughed, "Of course! Oh my god Fran you're adorable!"_

_He shoved a bag of groceries into his hands. "I brought you food! You just have to have a well-stocked kitchen! I _

_wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that my poor Frannie was starving!"_

_"Uh thanks." _

_"Are you still unpacking!?" Luss noted the boxes stacked in the corner of the living room. "Do you need help unpacking!?"_

_"No it's okay, I've just been procrastinating, I don't have that much stuff really." This was true._

_Luss gasped and walked to the windows that made up one of the walls of the room. "What a wonderful view~!"_

_"Yeah it is kinda of nice." _

_"We miss you Fran!" Luss sat down on the couch. "Squalo denies it but I'm pretty sure he misses your presence, Levi told me to say hi, and Xanxus… well he's Xanxus, but you know I'm worried about Bel. He was moping around for a while, he caught a cold during this mission in the Himalayas though, so that might have had something to do with it- I'm sure he misses you too!"_

_"I'm sure." Fran wouldn't believe it. Ever. But Luss meant well._

_"Yes you should come visit sometime!"_

_"I'll think about it, I'll be pretty busy from now on."_

_"I know! But I figured it was worth asking anyway." Luss smiled._

_"Say," The flamboyant man continued, "Did you and Bel have a fight?"_

_Fran looked at the man curiously, why was he acting like he didn't know? Fran knew Bel had told him about it._

_"Something of the sort."_

_"Oh…" Lussuria looked off into the distance. Perhaps he really didn't know? But that was so unlikely. "Are you guys going to talk about it?"_

_"Probably not?" Fran could tell Lus was concerned, but for whom? "I mean I'm thousands of miles away, besides sempai wouldn't want to talk to me."_

_Luss shook his head slowly his eyes in thought. "No I think he would Fran, I know Bel's not someone you can talk things out with, but he respects you despite everything. I know he does."_

_Fran sighed, "I'll think about it."_

_"Please." Luss smiled suddenly, "Now I'm going to cook you something, what would you like? Spaghetti?"_

_Luss's spaghetti was to die for, and what would be the next time that Fran would get the chance to eat it again? _

_"Yes please." _

_"Coming right up then!" Lussuria rushed happily into the kitchen._

_Once he was in the clear, Fran smiled, he was going to survive._

* * *

I probably should have made _this _chap into two but it's fine.

Not quite the explanation I was going for, but it's not over yet. The one night stand comes up once again later on. :3

Also in this story Fran is 24 and Bel is 27, and in flashbacks Fran is 16 and Bel is 19. Probably doesn't tie in with the actual timeline but it's fanfiction so... fuck the timeline ^.^

-Sorry I thought I posted this earlier but I only uploaded it to ff, I didn't actually post haha today was just one of those days. Also class starts for me tomorrow, and I'll try to be consistent but I also have a website to manage so updates might be a bit slow, I'll try to update at least once a week :)


	7. When he grow up he'll become a killer

7. When he grow up he'll become a killer and kill everybody.

_Oh Marcello- Regina Spektor_

"It's dark already." Bel observed, not used to the strange weather here, "and cold."

"Yeah the sun sets earlier now because of the whole daylight savings crap isn't for a while." Fran huffed into his jacket. "Or already happened? I don't know it's confusing."

"So that paper you got from that guy at the club, told you to come here?" The duo's shadows followed behind them as they walked through warehouses. There was no moon that night, well it was only six. The only light came from the occasional light fixtures that gave everything a gloomy red shade.

"They were coordinates."

"For?"

Fran didn't answer Bel for a moment.

"A body? A person? A something?"

"All of the above in a way."

"Ahh…" Bel honestly had no idea what Fran's mission was now that he thought about it. It was all top secret or whatever, even the stupid shark didn't know.

"They'll be expecting us, since the guy never made it back to them."

"Why are we here again?" Bel smirked.

"To say hi." Fran stopped. "Someone is coming." He made a gesture towards a shadow peeking out from in between two buildings.

"Should we hide?"

"No, he can't see us."

An old man carrying a couple of boxes drove by in a fork lift. It was just an employee or something.

"Is there supposed to be other people here?" Bel asked eyeing the man as he left.

"Yeah it's a weekday and they don't close until 9." Fran felt his phone vibrate. "I figured it'd be easier to scope out the place earlier than they expected us to." He answered it. "Hey."

_"Fran? Are you busy?"_

It was Natalie. "Eeh not really." Bel couldn't hear the person calling.

_"I came over earlier and you weren't home, your roommate was?"_

Fran looked at his sempai. "Yeah sorry I forgot you were coming over."

From the sound of it, Bel figured he was talking to his girlfriend.

_"It's okay, but hey do you want to go get something to eat later? You can bring your friend."_

"Sure what time?"

_"I get off work at 9, so 10? At the Melting Pot?" _

"Sounds good."

_"Awesome, I'll see you then, I love you babe."_

"Er-"

There was a giggle on the other side of the line. _"You're with your friends, I gottcha, I'll talk to you later then."_

"Laters."

Fran put his phone away. Bel was grinning at him. "What?"

"Nothing." He smirked. "Have a nice chat there?"

"Yeah Natalie wants to have dinner with us later."

"Ah food?"

"Yes food."

"I'm down."

"Cool," Fran turned on his heel, "this way then."

The two ducked into a building. They walked down a dark corridor; Fran seemed to know where he was going. After a couple turns they exited the building, walked across a parking lot and into another building. This one had a couple of rooms with lights on, but they didn't enter any of them. Instead they got on an elevator and went down two floors beneath the ground.

The whole floor seemed to be a storeroom. It was empty. Fran walked to the back, pushed a couple of crates out of the way and found a safe. He pulled out the paper with the coordinates; it had some equations scribbled on there, in what Bel recognized as Fran's tiny handwriting. He entered a chunk of numbers into the safe and it opened.

The safe was big, as big as a door way. They walked through it, it was another room. It was dark but at the end there was a light coming from a cracked door.

As they approached it Bel caught the sound of two men conversing.

_"They're going to move it in an hour; in the meantime I'm leaving now."_

_"Are you sure it's safe?" _

_"I'm positive. My men tracked the men from the night club down to their apartment. They haven't left yet. They're smart, they won't come till late."_

_"They're real good though, I heard they always get the job done. Them Varia people." _

The other man laughed a heavy laugh._ "That boy won't do anything to me. He's had the opportunity twice. He can't do it."_

_"Is that the kid with the_-" The man was cut off, and the second one no longer spoke.

Were they talking about Fran? Bel looked over to him but he was gone.

Bel peaked inside the room. The two men were dead. A big man slumped over his desk and the second with his throat slashed in his seat.

"Fran?"

"Hey come over here and look through these cabinets while I search the desk." Fran motioned from a corner. "Also maybe this bookcase…." He started flipping the books off the shelves.

"What am I supposed to be looking for?" Bel flipped through some financial papers.

"You'll know it when you see it." Fran said simply pulling out drawers.

"Why can't you just tell me what it is?"

"Cuz the room is bugged. We probably only have like 8 minutes before someone gets down here."

"Okay…"

"Found it." He didn't show Bel what it was. He turned to the corpse on the desk. "That was a bit disappointing, I was hoping to have a little more fun."

Fran frightened Bel sometimes, just with the calm way he handled everything.

"Who was he?" He asked.

Fran started to exit the room. "Oh, he's the man that killed my family."

…

"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to be alone with your girlfriend?" Bel asked Fran as they walked out of his apartment building.

"Naw, we're alone all the time, also I'm pretty sure she's interested in meeting you."

"Why?"

"She thinks I have no friends or something."

Bel laughed, he could see how that could happen. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, so do you have a car?" It had just occurred to Fran that Bel hadn't mentioned how he had gotten here.

"In a way yeah, want me to drive?"

"No I was just wondering how you got here, but if you want to, we can take your car."

Bel smiled pulling out his keys, "This is Charlotte." He motioned at a cherry red motorcycle parked on the curb. It looked expensive, Fran knew nothing about motorcycles but it looked expensive. He _did_ know that motorcycles couldn't seat 2 in a way the green haired assassin would consider comfortable.

"Yeah we're taking my car." Fran said plainly turning and walking the other direction.

Bel chuckled, "What a bummer."

…

They reached the Melting Pot around 10:15.

Bel recognized the red head from their previous encounter. She was sitting on one of the stools by the counter. As she spotted Fran and Bel at the door, she hopped off and approached them.

"Hey." She said going up to Fran and giving him a little peck. "How was work?"

"It was good," Fran answered, he was being his usual self, odd, Bel had expected different. He wondered if she knew about Fran being in the Mafia, but it didn't seem like it. "Nat, this is Bel."

"Nice to meet you officially Bel." She held out a hand, Bel took it, "You know when Fran would talk about his friend Bel, I thought it was Belle as in B-E-L-L-E, Belle, not uh…"

Fran talked about him? Bel grinned, and gave Fran a look, which he just rolled his eyes at. "B-E-L," he finished for her.

"It's short for Belphegor." Fran added.

"Belphegor?" The red head looked thoughtfully, "Demons? As one of the seven princes of hell? Wicked."

"Thanks?"

_Seven princes of hell?* _ Fran thought walking away. _That made sense._

They followed him to a booth, he slid in on one side, and Natalie slid in behind him. Bel slid in across from them.

A waitress came over and put 3 menus on the table. Natalie picked one up and flipped through it, Fran already knew what he was getting, and Bel wasn't hungry. When the waitress came back, Fran ordered a pastry and a cup of coffee, Nat ordered some pasta and a fruity drink, and Bel ordered coffee for himself as well.

"I hate coffee." Both Fran and Bel said as the waitress set the food on the table and walked away.

Natalie looked at the two strangely and laughed, "Okay…"

"So Bel," She eyed the blond taking a sip of her drink, "How long have you known Fran?"

"Some time." Bel answered her in the least amount of words possible.

"Like 9 years?" Fran noted. "Maybe 10?"

"Yeah."

"Wow that is long; you guys meet in school or something?" Natalie leaned forward on her fist.

Bel shot a short smile at Fran. "We worked together."

"Oh that sounds like fun. You guys aren't from around here huh? Where are you from?"

"Italy."

"You're Italian!?" She seemed surprised, "Fran why didn't you tell me?"

"Because he's French, he only stuck around for a while." Bel teased.

"Huh really? Where are you from?" She asked Bel, "I took Italian in college, _Io solo ricordo un po'."(I only remember a bit)_

"_Si suona bene._ (_It sounds fine)" _Bel knew Fran spoke absolutely no Italian and smirked at him. "_Vengo da Mantova. (From Mantova)"_

"_Si, capisco piu che parlo. (I understand it more than I speak it)" _Natalie took a drink. "_Perche e molto similaire a espagnol. (Because it's so similar to Spanish) Dimmi, Fran ha sempre… e stato… Fran? (Tell me, has Fran always been … Fran?)"_

_Bel chuckled. "Si lui era molto strano quando era giovani. (Yeah he was a weird child)"_

Natalie laughed, Fran was worried._ "Siete buono amichi? (Are you guys' good friends?)"_

Bel eyed the suspicious Fran and nodded, winking, _"Mi piace molto. (I like him a lot)" _

"SO," Fran inturrupted. "English?"

"Oh Fran, you're adorable." She continued. "_Mi piace molto anche. (I like him a lot too)"_

She gave the annoyed green haired young man a soft punch. "Common, I'm probably not going to Italy anytime soon, might as well put it all to good use."

_"Quanti anni hai? (How old are you?)" _Natalie was now throwing out the random things she remembered.

"Venti-sette. (27)"

"_Di che colore e la tua machina? (What color is your car?)" _

_"Rosso (Red)."_

_"Quanti personne nella tua familia? (How many people in your family?)"_

_"Sette. (7)"_

_"Chi e tu colore prefirito? (Favorite color?)"_

_"Rosso… como li sangue. (Red, like blood)"_

_"Che cosa ti piace fare? (What do you like to do?)"_

_"Uccidere. ([To] Kill)"_

Natalie had no idea what that was, "_Che colore sono tuoi occhi? (What color are your eyes?)"_

Bel laughed. "Nice try."

The redhead shrugged, "It was worth a shot."

"So we back to English?" Fran asked irritated.

"For now yes." Natalie giggled. "I was out of Italian anyway."

"Good." Fran glared.

"Frog." Bel grinned.

Natalie looked at him confused.

"It's a joke." Fran explained pointing to his hair.

"Aw… I get it, Froggy Fran, cute."

"Please don't."

"Only I'm allowed to call him that." Bel said winking again.

"Ha. Funny." Fran shot him a glare. Maybe bringing his sempai was a bad idea.

"Does Fran know?" Natalie was referring to the color of Bel's eyes.

"Know what?"

"I don't think so." Bel shrugged, he really didn't… Fran with his magic-who-ha could maybe?

"Knowww whattt?!" Fran cried so annoyed it made him tired.

Bel and Natalie just laughed.

And it went on like that for rest of the dinner.

…

"We could go for drinks?" Natalie suggested, as they walked outside.

"Naw, I have work tomorrow." Fran answered honestly. "Maybe another night."

"The frog doesn't handle alcohol well." Bel chuckled.

"Really? I didn't get that impression from him."

"Why do you guys talk like I'm not right here?" Fran rolled his eyes.

"Yeah it's entertaining." Bel smirked.

"Like how?"

"Sempai I think we should go." Fran cut in.

"What was that?" Natalie asked, hearing the honorific for the first time.

"Sempai?" Fran realized that he hadn't called him so during the night. "It's an honorific, in Japan, you use it address someone older than you in school."

"Japan?" It seemed that Natalie was hearing this for the first time.

"We lived in Japan for a while," Bel explained.

"It was like an exchange program we did?" Fran didn't know how to explain it.

"Sure." Bel grinned at the frog.

"Oh I see, so you speak Japanese too?!"

"Yeah a bit." Fran scratched his cheek.

"Wow, that's impressive!"

"I guess." The young assassin shrugged. "Anyway we should go, I'll see you soon."

"Okay, drive safe k?" The red head hugged him and gave him another peck.

"Kk." Fran flushed, not because he was shy more because it felt weird with his sempai watching. It was probably the reminder of his unfaithful deeds.

Bel shot him a smirk. Fran felt his heart sink and looked away. Why was Bel so… perfect?

* * *

*She's talking about mythology, Belphegor is a demon prince, one of seven.

Nice little Italian lesson there huh? Natalie's Italian needs some work there though. Be;'s on the other hand is a lot more proper than I would have liked it to be.

I'm like freaking out for the next chapter, I would upload it but I like to have an extra chapter typed out in case of an emergency. I'll try to type chapter 9 out fast so I can upload it soon :3


	8. There goes my valentine again

8. There goes my valentine again.

_Hand of Blood- Bullet for my Valentine_

Fran was weird.

Bel thought, sitting on the couch, running his thumb down the blade of one of his knives. It was noonish, the bright light announced it as it came in fully through the windows, giving the room a bright white tone. Very refreshing it was.

The night prior, after they had left Natalie there was something wrong with Fran. Bel didn't know what it was, but it bothered him.

There was a knock on the door, and as usual Fran was going mafia business or whatnot. Bel had gotten the impression yesterday that his mission was over, but I guess not. Fran was with Chrome so he wondered if that was the girlfriend.

And it was.

"Hey!" Natalie waved, "Is Fran here?"

"Um… no sorry." Bel scratched the back of his head. "I don't know how long he'll be…"

"It's fine, I don't mind waiting!"

"Okay… sure." Bel held the door open for her.

"Thanks, you don't mind do you?" She said sitting down where Bel had been.

He took the armchair. "No it's fine, I was just reading." He picked up a random book that was on the coffee table. _The Picture of Dorian Grey, _he opened it to the bookmarked page.

"I like that book." The redhead tried making conversation. "Wilde was quite the thinker."

Bel had no idea what the book was about or who this Wilde person was. "Yeah," he shut the book and set it down.

"So… you went to college?" Natalie continued to inquire.

"Yeah. In Italy."

"I see…"

Bel pulled out his phone to look at the time. When he looked back up Natalie was standing over him.

The blond was about to ask her if there was something he could help her with, when she spoke.

"Oh Bel…" She touched her hand to his cheek. "I don't know what it is about you… but…" She brought her second hand up to touch his messy hair.

"You look so tired and worn out… so _pained_…" She said the word 'pain' as if it pained her to say it. "You look so… broken."

Bel had reflexes beyond his time, but he didn't stop the girl. He simply observed her.

She brought her face closer to his. She had a thin face, a darker tone of ivory, not quite as pale as Fran's. Her ruby red hair was up in a sloppy bun; her eyes were a dark blue and focused on Bel's lips.

"I want… to fix you…" She whispered closing the space in between them.

* * *

Yeah the next chapter is very melodramatic, _suis tres desole! _


	9. Love is for fools that fall behind

9. Love is for fools that fall behind.

_Shimmer- Fuel_

Fran returned to his apartment late.

Bel sat freshly showered at the table looking out the window.

"Hey, I think I'm pretty much done…" The green haired assassin beamed as he walked in, "I just have to file some paperwork and I can go home."

"Really?" The blond eyed him. Fran looked exhausted, but in a good mood nonetheless. "I didn't think you'd finish so soon." He was going to ask him to define 'home', but Fran continued.

"Yeah me either," he sat down across from him, "so what's you do today, did you go out?"

"No, hey um your girlfriend came over."

"She didn't tell me she was going to, I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Bel set whatever he had been drinking down. "I don't think she wanted you to know that she came over."

Fran gave him a look to continue.

"Dude, I kissed your girlfriend."

Bel had expected Fran to have more of a reaction. "Well she kissed me actually; I'm not into her…"

He didn't seem so mad, or mad at all. "So what'd you do?"

…

_Natalie searched Bel for a response. When there was none she kissed him again, a bit deeper this time. The third time she tugged at his collar, she unbuttoned one button, two._

_Bel stopped her from continuing. _

_"Wha-"_

_"What are you doing?"_

_She looked at him kind of lost for a second before shrugging. _

_"I-I… I figured," She sighed, "you have someone, how could you not?" She as she just realized, then smiled, "She must be something great to deserve you." _

_"What.." Bel thinking that jumping to that conclusion was a bit extreme, he could be just not into her._

_"She doesn't see it yet, but you're perfect, she'll realize that soon I'm sure." She grinned, "I wish someone loved me that much." _

_"Does Fran not?" Bel found her curious. _

_"Fran… I love Fran, he's wonderful, but he's…" She sighed again, "he's not always there, sometimes I just get the feeling that he cares for me, but he would be fine without me, you know what I mean?"_

_Bel didn't._

_"When we first met we talked a lot, he's a guy with a past, but you probably know that. He probably didn't mean to tell me everything, I just so happened to be there. Sitting in the coffee shop reading The Tale of Despereaux… It was just a coincidence that I happened to overhear him crying, well her wasn't crying crying, it was soft- barely there… he was just sitting there in a corner, looking like there was nothing left for him in the world."_

_The simple thought of the scenario saddened Bel. He felt guilty, for what?_

_"We met there every day after that," She continued, "Just to talk. Not about his problems, just talk… about normal things. Then I asked him to lunch, and then dinner… and now… he's become more distant, I feel it."_

_"He'll probably leave me when you tell him about this?" She said it like a question, as if there were a chance the blond wouldn't, but understood if he did._

_"Yeah."_

_She shrugged and looked at her lap. "Yeah you're a good friend." She smiled again, "A good person."_

_Right. Bel knew he was anything but._

_…_

Bel summed it up a bit differently, but it got the message across.

"Hm…" Fran hummed.

"Are you going to break up with her?"

"I don't see why I should."

The blond wasn't sure if he had heard him right. "I'm sorry?"

"You said she felt bad no? She won't do it again, it should be fine."

"So you're ok with her kissing me?" What was wrong with Fran? Bel knew he was illogical sometimes but this was fairly logical. When a person cheats on another they break up no?

"Well I kissed you." Fran pointed out blandly, "So we're even."

"Oh well when you put it that way…" Bel said sarcastically, he couldn't remember ever being this irritated at anything.

"I didn't mean it like that…"

"Why are you protecting yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're using her as shield, you're afraid of getting hurt."

"Bel… can we not do this now?"

"I'm sorry okay? I don't know what happened to you after that night, but I'm sorry." He sighed, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you it was okay, I was okay with you liking me. I was young, I wasn't exactly thinking, I didn't know what I wanted, but I did know that I didn't want you to leave Fran."

Fran thought his words out.

"No, you can't say that Bel, I heard you okay? I heard you talking to Lussuria about it, about me and how stupid I was. I heard the guards talk about what you said. You weren't okay with it, maybe you're okay with it now- but you're different now. I don't know what it is but something happened to you and you grew up. Which is great and all but you can't take back what's already happened." The illusionist wasn't looking at Bel. He wasn't crying but he couldn't look at him or he probably would.

What was he talking about? Bel recalled the day after that night, "Lussuria? I never told anyone, we were probably talking about something else, but what guards? The guards are idiots. You were afraid Fran, it's all in your head, why'd you leave? I expected you approach me about it, and you didn't. I'm different now because of you, you broke me, but it's okay because I broke you, and I'm sorry that's all I want to say. I'm sorry."

It was quiet as Fran took it all in.

"I'm sorry too." He said honestly and sincerely. He really meant it, Fran had been stupid, and he knew it all along, he _was _just protecting himself.

It was true though, they were both broken. Bel had known this but Fran had just realized it. Fran hadn't been himself in the longest time, and now it just brought an ache to his heart. Maybe he could start again now, but he wasn't sure if he remembered what it was to be himself anymore. Who was he?

* * *

So much melodrama =_='' but don't worry things get interesting soon, like sh*t gets real ;)

Actually I got a bit carried away typing up the next chapter and typed up and extra 2. I considered uploading 2 today but I decided to give it a day :D you guys can handle it right?


	10. Til there's nothing left here to rescue

10. Till there's nothing left here to rescue.

_Bullets- Data Romance_

"Um Bel?"

The blond whirled around to face Natalie.

"Did you tell Fran?" She fidgeted, "About you know?"

"Yeah."

"Then why hasn't he brought it up?" She looked nervous.

"I don't know… maybe he hasn't had the opportunity?"

She looked around the corner at their table where Fran sat sipping a drink. "I'm not sure… I mean he did invite me here tonight."

The three were at a local club, which Bel agreed was very un-Fran. Natalie usually had to drag _him_ to these things. Maybe now that his mission was over he wanted to have some fun.

"Or maybe he's forgiven you."

"Why would he do that?" The girl eyed the blond for an explanation.

Bel simply shrugged, "He's strange like that."

They stood there for a while in silence except for the vibrations from the poppy techno music Bel disliked so much. The night prior came back to him; Fran had acted as if it never happened per usual.

Although he never understood his reasoning behind that, he was surprisingly fine with it. He figured it was Fran's way of coping.

"I'm going to go back." He said, he had come out to the balcony to get some fresh air, but he was all good now.

"Ah yeah me too," Natalie had been in her own little world, "I'm just going to go to the restroom real quick."

Fran had been staring off into space when he felt Bel sit down across from him.

"She's confused." He noted, "I'm confused, why are we here again?"

It took him a second to respond, and when he did he shrugged, "To relax?"

"Is this really what you find relaxing?" He motioned to their chaotic environment.

"No." Fran smiled to himself, "Not at all."

Bel smiled too, unconsciously, "So?"

"Just felt like doing something different."

"I'm back." Natalie smiled meekly as she took the seat next to Fran.

"You want another drink?" He asked her kindly.

"Uh no I think I'm good." She paused thoughtfully, "Hey do you guys know those guys?"

She motioned to two men sitting a couple of tables away casually conversing.

"I don't think so," Fran glanced at them and returned to give Nat a curious look.

"The one in the light blue dress shirt asked me about Bel."

They looked at Bel questioningly. He shrugged, "I don't know them."

"What he'd ask you?" Fran investigated.

"First if I was with you guys, and then if your name was Bel." She looked back at the man, who was now looking at the trio.

"That's weird why would-" Fran cut himself off, as both he and the blond came to a sort of epiphany.

"Nat stop looking over there." The young mafiaso muttered quietly but sternly.

"Why?"

"We have to leave." The prince concealed a knife or two in his palm. "Now."

"Okay?"

"You go first," Bel said, "then Nat and then I'll follow."

"You guys are scaring me, should I be scared?" Natalie felt her fingertips get cold. Fran grabbed her hand to help her up.

"Relax, we have this under control." Fran assured her, pulling her behind him, through the crowd of hot sweaty dancers.

"Fran?" Natalie didn't know what was going on, but something was wrong despite Fran's words.

Bel followed from a distance, eyeing the men in the corner from his peripherals. They didn't move, but he was sure that the second they were out of the door they'd be right on their tail.

And he was right.

The moment Bel stepped outside, the men leapt up from their seats and rushed out a back entrance, and into an awaiting vehicle.

Fran slid Natalie into the front door and quickly placed himself behind the wheel. As he started the car, Bel slid in on the other side of Natalie. He hadn't even closed the door before the car shot into motion.

"How did they find us?" Bel asked Fran looking back to see that they were being followed already.

"The warehouse was a set up." Fran now realized, he turned on to a less crowded street. "They were decoys, I was wondering why they didn't put up a fight. This." He threw a necklace at Bel.

Bel caught it and observed it. It was simple, a small silver cross with a couple of tiny green emeralds placed at the center and four corners. He flipped it over to an engraving, _Mi principessa Esmeraldi. _The blond figured it was his mothers. Must have been what Fran found at the warehouse.

"Get rid of it. It's bugged." Fran said shifting over a couple of lanes.

Bel snapped it in two and tossed it out the window and into a river, as they were crossing a bridge. They were getting farther and farther from civilization fairly quickly.

"Fran what-"

"We're in the mafia." The younger assassin cut her off. "I'm sorry I didn't intend for this to happen."

Bel looked at the redhead to see how she was taking it, pretty good it seemed. It made sense though, she was smart.

"And those men?"

"Are trying to kill us a little bit, but don't worry we'll get you somewhere safe."

"Are you sure?" Nat turned to look behind them, the car from earlier was gone instead two motorcycles followed at a distance. "Maybe you should slow down, I think those are cops."

They were speeding by a good chunk, but Fran wasn't going to slow down. "They're not cops, they wouldn't be able to see us if they were."

Natalie was confused but decided it was better not to say more. Bel understood though. It was a common trick. Fran would hold an illusion over their vehicle so that the police and civilians wouldn't be able to spot them. The only reason their pursuers could see them was because it was likely that they had their own illusionist on board or they were prepared for these illusions. Either way it made it clear that the people following them were not cops at all.

They were climbing; Natalie could feel the elevation rising as they went further. She didn't understand why since it appeared that they were no longer being followed. Again, Natalie didn't understand the concept of illusions.

"Fuck." Bel swore, Fran did too on the inside. They were trapped, surrounded, they didn't know how it happened but it did. Natalie wondered if it was over. This was the Varia we're talking about so it was far from over.

Fran sped up, and at the next fork he veered left and into an underpass that cut through the side of the mountain they were on. Most of the lights were out, and it seemed like they were in there for some time, even with Fran pretty much flooring the gas pedal.

"Fran…" Bel muttered as an opening began to materialize on the horizon.

The assassin behind the wheel didn't budge.

"Fran…" Bel tried again a couple seconds later.

"We're going really fast." Natalie squeaked from her seat.

"We're not going to make it Fran." Bel couldn't deny being a bit terrified. "Don't do it."

Still the younger man didn't respond.

As they approached the exit, it became more evident what was going to happen. A turn that sharp would be impossible to do at the speed they were going at. Fran knew that, and so did Bel, and so did Natalie.

"FRAN!" Bel now positive that it was playing death to consider doing this, let alone attempt it.

Natalie was trembling in her seat; she was going to die…

"WE CAN'T FRAN-"

"I KNOW BEL OKAY?!" He snapped suddenly, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME AGAIN!"

Natalie whimpered.

"It's going to fine." Fran assured the two. But who was going to assure him?

They were feet away from the edge when Fran turned sharply to the right, throwing the two other passengers into him. The car curved with the turn, edging slowly to the outside of the turn. They were going to skid off, Fran had known that, but it was all he could think off at the moment. It was going to work; he was sure, for the most part.

He didn't know if Natalie had been screaming the whole time, if so Fran had just noticed it. Her shrieks got louder as the car started to grind against the road guard creating sparks. The car was going far too fast but Fran didn't move his foot from the gas. The car broke through a rusted part of the guard, flying off the ledge and into the wilderness below.

* * *

This one is quite the nail biter, I hope you guys enjoyed it :) I'm quite liking where this is going, but I'm still trying to figure out the chapters after the next one, so it might be a while before I update chap 12 (don't worry chap 11 is already typed up). DOUBLE BUT, I've posting his nice little one shot I've been working on pretty soon ^.^

To everyone that has been reviewing/reading thank you for reading, I forget to do that but it really makes me happy that people are reading and (hopefully) enjoying the story :)


	11. Off with his head

11. Why don't you remember my name? Off with his head.

_Paranoid Android- Radiohead_

If Fran could guess, the moment he lost consciousness had been either the second he felt the car drop and he passed out in terror before he hit the ground, or when the car actually hit the ground.

He'd bet on the first one.

As he regained consciousness everything came back to him, but he didn't take it in right away. He blinked, it hurt to blink; he couldn't imagine what it would be like to actually try to move.

It was dark, but who knew what time it was and how long they'd been there. It was quiet except for the sounds of crickets chirping in the night.

At least they hadn't been caught. Fran thought, tasting dried blood on his lip. Dry grass tickled his cheek, he tilted his head trying to get catch a glimpse of his surroundings. There were a lot of pine trees but no signs of anyone, this worried the young man. Then he spotted the driver's side door laying a couple feet from him. Where was the rest of the car? And more importantly, where was Bel?

_Bel. _Fran jumped to a sitting position, and then winced at the pain that stung his body. It hurt everywhere, he couldn't pinpoint the source because, well he probably was injured everywhere. He flopped back onto his back. _Ow. _

He couldn't help but lay there and stare at the clear dark sky until the pain wore away. He needed to get to the others, but the stars… they never looked brighter. He'd be okay if he died right there, at peace, looking at something so pretty. But he couldn't die, not right now.

He rolled over to his other side, as gently as he could. It took a second for his eyes to adjust. He saw the car not too far off; it was wrecked but still pretty together despite the missing door. He couldn't see Bel or Nat, he panicked a bit.

_They're alright Fran, _he told himself.

With all the strength he had left he pulled himself in the direction of the car. This dragging eventually turned into a painful half-crawl, but he saw them and he didn't care. He made his way over there as fast as his broken self would take him.

From the way Natalie's body was sprawled out, it looked like someone had dragged her out of the car after the crash. _Bel… _Fran spotted him not too far off, as if dragging Natalie out of the car had taken everything in him, and he just passed out.

After checking if his girlfriend was still alive and stable, he crawled to Bel.

"Sempai…" The assassin's voice cracked, it hurt to talk.

He tugged at the knife wielder's sleeve. He seemed okay, he wasn't bleeding much, a nasty gash on his forearm but that was just a scratch to the mafiaso.

"Sempai!" Fran tried a bit louder, his voice was still rough.

He was going to tug on his sleeve again when Bel shot up.

"Fran!" He steadied himself; he had gotten up too fast.

"Sempai…" Fran tried once more to sit up, he gave up half way panting. "We need to get… get out of here."

The blond nodded in agreement. "Are you okay? You look awful."

"I'm fine you should wake her up." He motioned to Nat.

Bel walked over to the girl and woke her up gently. In the meantime Fran nearly killed himself standing up.

"Fran are you okay?!" She ran over to him, other than some bruises she looked fine too.

"I'm fine, we should find shelter though."

"I think I see a light this way." Bel pointed to a faint light in the distance behind some trees. "Probably a campsite or cabin."

"Let's hope it's empty." Fran began walking towards it, but after about 5 steps, his body gave out he collapsed.

"Fran!" Natalie shrieked as Bel helped him back to his feet. But he couldn't stay standing, his spine was sore and his side was killing him.

Bel kneeled in front of him, "Get on my back."

"I'm okay-"

"You can't stand frog."

Fran sighed, he was right; reluctantly he wrapped his arms and legs around his sempai. He still hurt a lot, but at least he didn't have to walk.

"They didn't follow us," Natalie pointed out. "You'd think they'd at least check if we made it or something."

"They did," Bel answered, "Fran used an illusion to make it look like we were dead."

"Illusion?" Natalie was confused.

"It's complicated, just think of it as a magic trick."

"Ah a mafia thing?"

"Yeah."

Bel knew Fran probably used his Hell ring to trick them, because a normal illusion wouldn't have worked. This was weird because he didn't see him use it, nor did he think there was enough time in the last 2 hours for him to even consider using it.

The illusionist had more brains than Bel usually gave him credit for. That was for sure.

Natalie ran over to a tree, and vomited behind it.

"Are you okay?" The blond called out, she held up a hand to assure him that she was okay.

When she returned she explained, "I'm still in shock."

Bel nodded understanding and they continued.

As they got closer to the light, it became more apparent that the small cabin was a sort of ranger station for the campgrounds. A rusty old truck was parked right in front of it, so there was probably someone there. Hopefully they were _friendly;_ Fran probably didn't want his girlfriend seeing them murder someone for no reason.

They approached the screen door and Natalie tapped her knuckles on the glass half. There was no response but there was a yellow light coming from the end of the short hallway. She knocked louder.

"Coming." A voice called from the back.

A figure appeared at the end of the hall and as it came closer the group got a better look at the man.

He was old, but not senile. He could probably chop down a tree; he was certainly dressed as if he cut down trees. He was wearing a black tank top with a plaid shirt unbuttoned over it, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He wore normal worn out jeans. His hair was a mess of gray and blond.

"Holy!" The man exclaimed as he opened the door, "What happened to you guys?"

"Yeah," Bel began, "we drove our car off the turn up over there, may we clean up and use your phone to call for help?"

Natalie went along with it, "Our phones didn't survive with us."

"Um yeah come in, we have a first aid room," he waved for them to follow him, "Is your friend okay? Do we need to call him an ambulance?"

"Uh no he's fine-"

"I'm just tired from walking." Fran assured the man, "I can walk now Bel."

Bel helped him to the floor, and the man bought it. He continued to lead them to the back, through a sitting room and down another hall. At the very end he opened a door for them and flipped the lights on. "Here you go, help yourselves, I'll go get you guys the phone."

"Thank you, and no hurry." Bel said walking over to a white cabinet marked with a red cross, opening it and rummaging through its contents.

Fran walked over to a bed set up in the corner and flopped onto it. _Ow._ Natalie sat down on the edge joining him.

"Clean up." Bel tossed her a damp towel, a dry one, and a bottle of peroxide.

He himself rolled up his sleeve, the gash was still bleeding a bit but it wasn't too bad. He had thrown himself in front of Natalie during the impact; it probably was from the windshield. He checked for glass, rinsed it, and began to disinfect it.

He winced a bit, it burned.

"Do you need help?" Natalie turned to him finished cleaning the couple of scratches she had gotten. She was more bruised than anything but she was fine. "Ooo… that doesn't look pretty." She came over,

"I'm fine."

Natalie handed him some gauze.

"You should check on Fran." Bel motioned towards the lump on the bed, as he wrapped his arm up.

The girl nodded and went to the illusionist's side.

Bel washed his face, just a couple of scratches, nothing big.

"Fran… do you want to sit up?" Natalie shook his arm.

He only moaned in response.

"Common." Nat helped him sit up. "I have to check your injuries."

"Help him take off his shirt," Bel instructed as he got more towels and gauze. He rummaged through the cabinet some more and found some pain killers. Then he went over small water cooler in the corner and filled one of the tiny disposable cups with water.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow!"

"Fran quit fidgeting, I can't…"

Bel turned to the bed, Natalie was struggling with Fran.

"What are you doing?" The blonde asked raising an eyebrow at the scene. Natalie was trying to pull Fran's shirt off over his head, but it hurt Fran to move his arms up. It was a button down shirt.

"Just undo the buttons." Bel grinned at them for their slow moment there.

"Oh…" Natalie hadn't seen the buttons; the shirt was a dark violet.

"Here take this first." Bel handed the painkillers and the water to him. It seemed that he had no use of his left wrist, so Nat had to hold the cup for him.

"Now take off the shirt."

Natalie began to unbutton his shirt.

"Oh.. my…" She stopped as soon as she saw the large purple bruise that was wrapped around Fran's small waist. "I'm going to throw up again." She said with a blank face, slowly backing up from the bed and dashing to the bathroom.

"Ow." Fran said plainly as he saw the bruise himself.

"I can't see…. How big is it…" Bel helped him get his arms out of his sleeves.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Owww… Ow."

"Fuck." Bel sighed as he saw how big the bruise actually was. He poked Fran's side, with not much pressure.

"Ow."

His arm also had a large bruise, and a couple of scratches, nothing compared to the one on his side. That one looked raw, pink in the center and purple on the edges.

"He probably broke a rib." The man had returned with the phone. "You're gonna have to go to a hospital."

Bel frowned, but the man was right. Find the right hospital was going to be a problem, since the blonde had no idea where they were, more specifically where a hospital was that was 'affiliated'.

"I know a couple of 'friendly' hospitals around here." The man smirked.

So he was a 'friend'. Bel smirked as well, "Well we're going to need to borrow your truck then."

* * *

When he says affiliated he means with the mafia :)

Anyway I will probably update on Monday but no guarantees.


	12. I cannot believe we'd ever die

12. I cannot believe we'd ever die for these sins.

_The Freshmen- Jay Brannan_

It was still dark out; it was probably not an hour or two after midnight. It seemed like so much had happened in no time at all.

The trio finally reached a street that held signs of civilization. A round the corner of a chain gas station there was more signs of a city, with stores and building of many sorts.

"That feels a lot better." Fran said relived that they were no longer traveling on bumpy dirt road but on smooth paved streets.

"How's that fever?" Natalie leaned over to touch his forehead. Fran had developed a fever earlier but now it was going down thanks to the pain killers.

"Better?" Bel asked from behind the wheel.

"Better." The redhead confirmed. "Is that the hospital up ahead?"

Bel nodded.

They pulled into the ER drop off entrance.

"Can you park the car?" Bel asked Nat, who nodded and slid over to take the wheel as Bel went around to help Fran out of the passenger side.

He helped him walk inside, and got him checked in immediately. There was no waiting in the waiting room for 'friends' in need.

They quickly took them to an examination room; the nurse took down all the basic information and told them that the doctor would be with them soon.

Everyone knows when doctors say 'soon' they mean 'an hour or two' especially in emergency rooms. Being associated with the mafia has its perks; still it's not lightning fast service. If he wasn't bleeding to death, he could wait 10 minutes.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Bel could hear Fran struggling with the hospital gown behind the blue curtain.

"No…" Fran slid the curtain open so Bel could come back to the half room. "I'm done."

He limped back to the bed and sat down; Bel sat down in a chair across from him but scooted over until he was right in front of him.

"You can lie down." The blond pointed out after a moment of silence.

"I don't think I can lay down in this," He pointed to the hospital attire. "Without feeling uncomfortable."

Bel smiled "That should be the least of your problems right now. That looked like it hurt a lot."

Fran simply shrugged.

The sat in the quiet a bit more.

"Sempai?"

"Hm?" Bel looked up from studying the crack his phone's screen.

Fran leaned over and kissed the prince.

He had meant it to be a short innocent one but it soon turned into a rather long one.

They parted for breath and what Fran thought for good, but the blond pulled him in for a second one. This one was a bit deeper, with possibly half tongue.

Bel was irritated that the frog was in pain and he could only do so much to help. And not just physical pain either, all the emotional crap he had to deal with. Some that was partially his own fault. He wanted to fix that, his desire to fix him was one that he had never felt before.

There was a knock at the door before it swung open.

"Hey they brought you guys in so fast." Natalie noted as she entered.

Bel sat in the corner of the half room messing with his phone, and Fran was looking through a magazine he had found.

"Yeah." Bel mumbled from his corner.

"How you feeling hon?" She asked approaching Fran and tucking his hair behind an ear.

He smiled meekly, "Better."

There was another, much heavier nod, before the door swung open a second time.

Two men came in. One was a familiar face, and loose doctor attire, even though one could say he was hardly qualified. The second looked like someone who actually practiced medicine.

The second started to check on Fran immediately. While the familiar face approached Bel.

"I thought you didn't work on guys." Bel teased the man.

"I don't, that's why he's here." Dr. Shamal jabbed a thumb in the other doctor's direction. "I'm here for the official crap or what not. You lucky I wasn't that far from here, or you woulda had to wait a nice two hours."

"Huh." Bel shrugged disinterestedly.

"Say, who's the redhead?" The doctor asked now finding interest in another matter.

"Fran's girlfriend."

"Sweet." He nodded approvingly, "I love a challenge." He left Bel and joined the girl on the other side of the room.

The blond rolled his eyes. "Perv."

…

"Are you sure you're okay?" Bel asked Nat as she came back from throwing up for about the upteenth time.

They were sitting in a waiting room as Fran was in surgery for his rib, and his apparently broken wrist. The pain from everything else had distracted his attention from his swollen wrist.

"In all honestly no." Nat admitted miserably.

"Do you want the doctor to check you out-"

"No it's not that." She looked away, "I already know what's wrong, I just…"

"You just?" Bel was confused; maybe she had hit her head during the accident.

"Bel I'm pregnant." She whispered quietly.

The blond heard her though, he just hadn't expected it.

"Is..?"

_"_Fran the father?" She was still whispering. "No of course not, I wouldn't do that to Fran."

"But you would cheat on him?"

"No it wasn't like that, I was upset with him one day, and it was horrible I know but what can I do now?" She sighed. "I was going to tell him tonight but then this…."

They sat in silence for the rest of the evening.

* * *

Sorry for the short chap, it was a long weekend but my professors thought it would be a great idea to assign a shit ton of homework :D

Promise the next one will be longer :)

I know it probably seems like I'm just prolonging the ending of this but trust me I'm on schedule and as I said it will probably end in the next couple chaps ^.^ so stick around!


	13. I'm waking up to ash and dust

13. I'm waking up to ash and dust

_Radioactive- Imagine Dragons_

_It was all burning. The smoke was so thick, you could taste the black in your mouth. Why would mother still be alive? She was dead. Or was she? Should I go back to check? But the smoke…. _

_Now there was water everywhere. Up to my neck, to my mouth, to my eyes. I'm sinking. _

_"I'm sorry son we sold your soul to the Devil and your heart to Lucifer, with all the good intentions."_

_"Mom…"_

_"They told us you would always belong to Hell, but we will always love you as if you belonged to us." _

_"Dad…"_

_"Even if we have to pay the price." _

_"No…"_

_"The one thing we are told not to love is what we end up loving the most."_

_"Don't…"_

_"I can't tell you not to follow your heart Fran, but if… it'll be the end of both of… unless…"_

_"Go!"_

_Mixed flashes of the last 26 years of his life began to blend in with the scene._

_"Prince…"_

_Confusion._

_"Dad!"_

_Nostalgia._

_"Remember!"_

_Connection._

_"Mom!"_

_"Prince…"_

_"No…"_

_"Seven…"_

_"Nooo…"_

_"Hell."_

_Breakthrough._

_…_

"Fran!"

The young assassin woke up to the sound of Natalie's voice.

She rushed to the bed, "How are you feeling?!"

"Uh… better," Fran answered honestly. "It still hurts but a lot better."

"Good. The docto-" Bel was interrupted but Fran's sudden realization.

"Bel!" He gasped, his dream suddenly returning to him. "We need to get out of here."

"Fran-" Natalie tried.

"Relax, we should be fine, you need to rest." Bel said eying the frog carefully.

"No, we got it all wrong-"

"Fran."

"But-"

"Fran I'm pregnant!" Natalie blurted.

The blond looked at her in an entertained disbelief. "Nice timing Nat…"

Fran looked at her in simple disbelief. Then he glanced at Bel. "It's not his is it?"

Natalie laughed nervously, "Haha no… I'm sorry Fran."

"Um… it's okay," Fran wasn't sure if it was but he knew that was the least of his problems at the moment. "We need to get you safe right now though." He turned to Bel. "Can you check her into a hotel or something?"

"My mother lives around here; you can just drop me off at her place." The redhead suggested.

"That works, Bel you should take her."

"Right now?"

"That would work best yeah."

"I left my things in the other room, I'll go get them." The young woman excused herself.

"Sempai, after you drop her off-"

"Fran, your assignment can wait…"

The younger assassin hesitated, but agreed reluctantly. "I… suppose you have a point." He studied his hands. "I just- uh… be careful okay."

Bel studied him, "What?"

"What?"

Fran sat up as Bel felt his forehead. He was fine.

Before he could leave, Fran pulled him down for another kiss. There was a sadness in his eyes as they parted, if Bel had noticed wasn't evident. He wasn't going to let him leave, he kissed him again, Bel kissed back this time. Why was it always Fran kissing him first not the other way around?

Fran was a beautiful person.

"Mmph- Fran," Bel stopped. "I have to go."

Fran nodded and looked out the window.

"I'll be back in 20."

And with that he left, Fran sighed knowing that it was for the better.

…

"What took you? It's cold." Natalie said slightly annoyed having been sitting out in the cold for a while.

"Just talking to Fran." Bel unconsciously brought his hand to his lips.

They got in the car.

"Take care of him okay?" Natalie asked putting on her seat belt. "Fran is a good person."

Bel nodded in agreement.

He had started to back up when a loud noise broke the windows of their car and the cars around them.

"Shit!" He swore, looking across the parking garage, and over at the hospital. He saw another chunk being blown off as another 'boom' echoed through the parking structure. He shifted the vehicle into park and got out.

"Natali-" Another explosion interrupted Bel, this one was closer.

He went over and helped her out of the truck. Together they ran for cover, but Bel was sure they weren't going to make it. And they didn't. One last explosion took out the whole parking lot.

…

The smell of chemical burn mixed with the stench of burnt flesh creating an unpleasant odor.

Fran wondered how many innocent civilians were killed in the explosion. He himself being crushed by debris. He crawled out only to be scared shitless when he peered over an edge. There was barely anything holding the building up, it would collapse any second. Why did he have to be so high up?

He was sure Bel survived, but was he safe?

He sprang up at the thought of Bel. As soon as he did the sound of guns firing returned him to the safe floor. He crawled back behind some remains. Then out behind into a hall. There was thick smoke everywhere so he had to keep close to the ground. Something was still burning.

He coughed, unwillingly, that would give away his location. He sped up and crawled into a nearby vent. He hoped it was still pretty strong or else he would be screwed. He exited it in another room, and he found stairs. He was venturing down them when someone came up behind him and knocked him out.

…

"Bel!" Natalie screeched as she was being dragged away by strangers.

Bel woke up to being dragged away as well.

"What the hell?" He quickly countered and with a few knives took out Natalie's captors. "Run!"

She did. Bel continued to take them down, he was interrupted by a big man stepping in his path.

"I wouldn't." He motioned far behind him.

"Fran!" Fran was unconscious in some man's arms. "You asshole let him go!" Bel swung three knives at the big man's throat. He knew they wouldn't kill Fran for it. They needed Fran for some reason.

"Finish him," A voice over an intercom instructed the men to attack Bel. They took Fran inside a helicopter and proceeded to leave.

The men tore at the blond assassin, but they were nothing to him, he killed them all in a breeze. As he collapsed to his knees when he was done, a small folded paper appeared in front of him. He grabbed it and unfolded it to see Fran's tiny scribbles.

There it was all, the answers to everything. Everything from the beginning. How? When? Why?

Because Fran was a fucking genius.

_Bel, _

_They're going to take me; this is what you have to do…_

The blond smiled, _stupid frog._

* * *

__I'm sooo sorry that took forever, I have a legit excuse though I promise, it's a rather long story but to make it short, my internet was out for a week or so. Only two chaps are left so bear with me ^.^

I would update on Sunday but it's mah birthday so I deserve the day off, naturally I'm taking the _whole _week off so see yalls then! :)


	14. I'm the hero of the story

14. I'm the hero of the story, don't need to be saved.

_Hero- Regina Spektor_

There are many religions on this planet, some similar some not. But if there's one thing a good fraction of these religions have is a Heaven and a Hell of some sort.

The guardians of Heaven, in some Christian based religions are the Seven Archangels. Gabriel, Micheal, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, and Saraqael. Their opposites being, the seven princes of Hell; Lucifer, Mammon, Asmodeus, Satan, Beelzebub, Leviathan, and Belphegor.

As to whether or not there is truth in these beliefs, I cannot tell you. There are so many versions of their stories that no one can really know. But today I'm going to focus on a version one specific tale:

The origins of the term 'Prince of Hell' is rather unknown, there was no monarchy in Hell. There were those who suffered, and those who caused the suffering. One would think it would be a punishment not a privilege to have such a task. I would imagine that inflicting eternal suffering on lost souls wouldn't be too much to ask for, especially for the damned. But the seven princes had their share of suffering. Every one of them had their own punishment, but for now we focus on one.

Each prince had an assigned task. To collect the 'bad' souls and bring them to Hell. The way the work was split up was in the way that each of the princes was to focus on a sin. Yes the seven _deadly _sins; Lucifer taking Pride, Mammon Greed, Asmodeus Lust, Satan Wrath, Beelzebub Gluttony, Leviathan Envy, and Belphegor Sloth.

In order to 'collect' these souls, one would have to locate the worst of the souls, go to Earth and make sure they kept it up, slowly lowering them to their cruel death.

…

Late 17th century England.

Francis was a genius.

"Francis!" _RAP RAP RAP, _the door vibrated with each heavy knock. "Your mother would like you to join her and the Lord Jonathan for dinner. Open the door!" The heavyset maid growled through the crack, her French accent as thick as her.

The young man leaned back in his chair setting his feet on his desk, a note pad on his lap covered with scribbles of latin. "No thanks," He turned the page and presumed to write, "My mother is a whore, I'd rather not partake in watching her throw herself at men."

"What was that!?" The maid gaped, "Young Francis I will break down the door! Maybe then you will be grateful for what you have!"

Francis didn't answer, he wasn't planning too.

In the distance you could hear the maid yelling at another maid in her native tongue.

"Francis!" She bellowed at the door once again.

"J_e ne vais pas, ne me dérange pas encore, je ne répondrai pas. Vous pouvez dire à ma mère qu'elle est une salope." _(I'm not going, don't bother me again, I will not answer. You can tell my mother that she's a bitch.) He replied in a way he figured she would understand.

"_Qu'est-ce?!" _The woman babbled for a moment, "French! He speaks French! When did he learn French! He never leaves that tower!" Her voice grew distant as she stomped away in defeat.

It was true. He never did leave that tower. As he got up and went to the balcony he knew he probably never would.

Since from when he was a child he been a great proficient. At everything he was beyond gifted, not that there was anyone, besides his mentors, that cared. His father dead, his mother too busy whoring herself off to care. None the less he love to learn, anything and everything he got his hands on he had gobbled up in minutes. By the age of 12 he was fluent in 11 languages, had completed a course in stochastic calculus, and had discovered two elements.

Everyone was impressed, with the exception of his parents, but soon it all came to a stop.

Boring. It was boring. Life had lost all interest to him. What were his gifts any good for if he was going to die someday anyway. Everyone around him was so _idiotic. _So far beneath him brainwave wise, they weren't even in the same dimension anymore.

So he shut himself in his tower, enjoying the solitude and the company of only his mind. All that potential all put to waste, all because he was too lazy to apply himself…

"Hm, I thought you'd be older." A silky voice from the shadows made Francis jump. He turned back to his room to face his intruder.

A tall lean man, masked by the darkness of his room, just the way Francis liked it.

"Who's there?" The young man took a cautious step inside the room.

"Well you don't have much time left anyway, so I'll skip the formalities." The demon stepped into light. For a demon he had a pleasing appearance. "I'm Belphegor, the seventh prince of Hell, I'm here to rip your body to shreds and take your soul to the everlasting suffering that is Hell. Because you know it's what I do." He grinned, his pale blond hair flopping over his eyes.

The young man didn't react like the others; he made a face of thought before responding. "On what grounds?" He raised an eyebrow keeping his straight face and taking a step towards the demon, "You're Belphegor if I'm right, which I never doubt, you leech off the sin Sloth no? Please explain how it applies to me."

"Huh." The prince observed the boy in curiosity, interesting he was. "Very well I've got time. You don't though, just so you know." He sat down lazily on the young genius's bed. "It's simple really, your intellect is beyond average, but instead of using it for the greater good, you're too lazy to do anything. Honestly I thought it could have been Greed as well but Mammon is a tough guy to negotiate with… greedy little bastard." He mumbled the last part to himself. "Anyway, is that all? You know before you die? Don't want to say good bye to anyone? Not that I would let you but I like to pretend to care."

"If it isn't evident by now, this life holds little interest to me." Francis swung his chair underneath him and sat down, hugging the back of the chair. "Tell me about the afterlife, what's it like in this 'Hell' you speak of?"

"I like you kid so I'll tell you." The demon ran his hand through his hair. "I've never experienced it personally, but from what I've seen it looks like you have options, you can burn for all eternity or be whipped for all eternity if you're into that kind of stuff, or if you're really lucky you can be a slave for all eternity. It's random really, what you get."

"Hm…" The young man processed this, "How do I get your job?"

"What?" This kid was really weird, he wasn't that much younger than Belphegor, but he hadn't aged for 500 or so years. "You want my job? Huh, I don't know really, I don't remember being human, let alone what I did to get here. But you can forget it kid, you're gonna die so you can forget about trying to get out of it."

"I bet I could do your job a thousand times better than you." Francis smirked tauntingly.

"You couldn't, trust me." The demon grinned mischievously.

"I could."

"You wouldn't be able to handle it."

"Handle what? Killing the damned?"

"It's more than that kid." Belphegor said with a serious tone, he didn't look at Francis when he said it. "We're _cursed_."

Francis knew it now, he was losing it, he was delusional. He has expected it sooner or later but he was still rather young, he couldn't be going mad already.

"Look kid I'll cut you a deal." The demon cut off his train of thought. "If you can convince me that you can do a better job than me, I'll consider letting you live."

Francis smiled, "Sounds like a deal." He really wasn't interested in living, as he said earlier, this world had lost all interest to him, but now he had this whole new world to discover. Finally something to relieve him of his boredom.

Belphegor disappeared from his bed and reappeared in front of him. "I'll be back." He said simply and dissolved into the darkness once again.

Maybe going crazy wasn't too bad.

…

Over the course of three months, Belphegor would visit Francis with puzzles, facts, questions, and answers related the underworld. Fran would happily solve the puzzles, absorb the facts, try the questions or ask them himself, there was a point where he would even give the demon advice on approaching certain victims. The visits started every third day, then drifted to every other day, until they were eventually every day.

"I think I would have just killed the senator's wife first, than risk someone seeing you kill him, and not having the time to kill her after."

Belphegor smirked at the boy's answer. "Good, that's exactly what I did." He laughed, "He walked in halfway into her murder and thought she was having an affair. They almost killed each other, I didn't have to do much really."

"Well is that all for today?" The young genius scribbled down some notes at his desk.

"Yep, I'll see you tomorrow, same time?"

"I believe so." Francis smiled his mischievous smile, which Belphegor returned with a smirk before disappearing.

…

"Mammon." Belphegor stopped before running into his friend. "How can I help you?"

Mammon stepped forward, his shoes clicking hard against the cold black and white tiles of the large hall. Mammon wasn't the type to waste time, even if he lived forever, he was always straight to the point. He studied the blond's face. "I heard you're overdue." He clicked his tongue, "You know, soul wise."

"I don't think you know what you're talking about, I turned in 5 this morning."

"Don't play stupid, you haven't killed that kid from 2 months ago."

"Three," He corrected. "And it's none of your business how I deal with my assignments, so if you'll excuse me-"

"Lucifer knows." The demon grinned at the blond's reaction. "Which means Satan does. He gave me the go this morning. I'll probably kill him tomorrow, the day after if you're lucky." He smiled pleased with himself, and continued to walk past the blond.

…

"Oh there you are, I figured you'd be here eventually." Francis got up from his scribbles at the desk holding a set of calculations in his hands, outward for Belphegor to see. "I was wondering if this was the-" He stopped as he reached the demon.

He was covered in a substance that looked like coal or charcoal. He didn't say anything, what had stopped Francis was his somber expression.

"What…" The boy couldn't seem to continue the sentence.

It was quiet for a second or two, when suddenly Francis found himself pinned against the wall, something rather sharp at his throat.

This was it. Francis knew this was going to come eventually, but not today. Oh well, what could he do. He half hated himself for giving up so easily.

A drop of something on his arm brought his attention back to the demon. Before he could see the only tear streaming down the demon's cheek, the blond kissed him.

Not having expected that the young genius blinked twice before closing his eyes and letting it sink in. For once in his life feeling stupid as he opened his eyes not realizing that it was over. The demon wore his grim expression once more, he stepped back.

"I can't do it, I'm sorry." He disappeared.

And though he hadn't said anything, Francis simply knew that this was the last time he would ever see the man.

He opened his palm to find something that hadn't been there before, a ring with the numbers 666 on it. Was it the demon's?

…

"Where is he?" Lucifer's long black hair followed him like a cape of silk as he walked into the hall.

"Leviathan and Asmodeus locked him up down in the Hinterlands." Mammon replied plainly. "Satan is pissed though. I'm sure Belphegor's going to destroy himself trying to get out."

"Better make this quick then." Lucifer tapped his staff gently on the wall in front of him and opened a ghastly doorway.

The duo disappeared through it.

…

On the other side they appeared in a room. A pale turquoise the walls were, it was quiet and the room looked empty aside from a desk, a canopy bed, an overly packed bookcase and a set of doors leading to a balcony.

"Where is he?" Lucifer looked around confused. "He has to be here…"

Mammon went to the desk, strange notes were scattered around everywhere. He flicked them around, did the kid have his own language?

"InallthatisSatan!" Lucifer half gasped from behind the bed. Mammon went over to see what he had found.

The boy was rolled up in a ball. His clothes soaked up in blood as he was still dragging some sharp object down his pale arms. He wasn't crying, nor did he say anything as the two men neared him.

"So what now?" Mammon looked at his comrade. "I think he might actually want to die…"

"I don't know…"

…

"Sell him." Satan answered the two useless demons. No one could ever do their job right. "He can't stay be in Hell, Belphegor will tear up the place to get to him."

The two bowed understandingly, turned on their heels and left the room.

…

And so it is said that the boy's soul was sold back into the earth as an entirely different person, memories erased. Shortly after Belphegor escaped his prison and took off after him. But there is no hope for them, they are cursed. Francis to run forever and Belphegor to chase forever. And that is the end of that.

Of course that is just one version of the story, truth or not, one can't say whether it is relevant to our story. Speaking of which, we shall return to… now:

Fran woke up in a room, just as he had expected he would. Soon it would all be over, and maybe just maybe everything would be okay. Despite Fran's abilities he knew that it was always too early to celebrate.

The room was gray, a bit bigger than a closet but not big enough to house a person in. Perhaps the size of a jail cell?

The door opened. A familiar man stepped in, not the blond he was waiting for but it was too soon for him to be here anyway.

"Fran… nice to see you again." He smirked, "I bet you weren't expecting to see me again."

"Not in the slightest." Fran mumbled after some period of silence. He_ had_ been expecting him though; it was part of being one step ahead in the game. He hadn't expected to see him so soon, but the sooner the better no? "It works; I can kill you twice, makes life a bit more interesting." He added with a bit of mock in his tongue.

The man chuckled apparently amused, "I can assure you it won't be as easy this time."

"Good." Fran couldn't help but retort. "Because last time wasn't anywhere near a challenge."

"I'd watch it kid, I don't think you realize what's at stake here." He pulled a necklace from underneath his shirt.

Fran hissed, that necklace didn't belong on that neck.

The real emerald necklace his mother wore. In the possession of a man that didn't deserve it in the least.

"I'm going to be honest with you Fran," He sat down next to the boy who sat on the floor chained to 4 cement blocks. Yes, how classy.

"This, is not what I'm after." He took off the necklace and put it in the boy's hand. "I'll tell you what I do want though."

It took every bit of Fran's restraint to not slap the man.

"Aside from getting revenge for your whore mother-"

That time Fran did slap the man. He seemed shocked at first then he laughed, "I don't think you know your place. Fran I know something, I know something you don't. I'm sure you're curious to know what."

The young assassin found that highly unlikely, but he didn't interrupt the man.

"Your mother was supposed to marry me you know that?"

Fran did, how lovely would that have been?

"She didn't love me though, it was arranged the whole thing. Her family was very prominent in the mafia world, she was supposed to save my family from ruin. But then she got knocked up by that, that _thing." _He frowned deeply; Fran figured that he was talking about Fran's father.

"Everyone knew they were seeing each other, they were selfish. What could I do? I wasn't going to break the engagement. I'd raise the child as my own. But then she got sick, she went mental, the both of them. Saying that they made some sort of deal with the devil in order to save the both of you. What kind of bullshit was that, it was evident this woman _really_ didn't want to marry me. So I ended it."

"But next thing I know she wasn't making it up, you Fran," he jabbed a finger at Fran's forehead, at this point he was standing over the boy. " You've really got something there, something I'd very much like. That Hell ring of yours, cough it up boy."

Fran grunted an 'hmph'.

"Please, take it." He said carelessly tossing the ring at his feet much the man's surprise.

The man chuckled, "I know the catch boy, I can't have the ring without its wielder or else it's of no use to me."

Fran didn't answer.

"You know you may think I may have killed your parents," The man started up again, "And I did, I won't lie, but you should know I saved them."

Right. Fran would never believe that.

"Something else was coming for them, coming for _you_. They would have died trying to protect you." He smirked, "And I was nice, I made it nice and clean, I promise you it could have been a lot worse."

After some more silence, he continued.

"Join me Fran, you're still not safe. I can protect you."

…

_"My Frannie, remember the story about the 7 princes?" _

_The woman combed her hand through the boy's green hair as he laid his head on her lap. _

_"Oui ma mère." (yes mother)_

_"Do you like that story?"_

_"No it's a sad story ma mere."_

_The mother studied the boy quietly. What a beautiful child she had._

_"Frannie promise me that no matter how sad you are that you will never let your story be a sad story. Okay?"_

_"Oui ma mère." The boy got up and faced his mother with a bright smile. "Ma mère will you promise that your story will be a happy one too?"_

_She smiled back at the boy. "But Frannie, it is already a happy one!" She grabbed the child and tackled him with kisses._

_"Mammaaaa…" Fran whined, "Too many kisses! There won't be any left for papa!"_

_The mother looked surprised, "My! Who told you that?"_

_"Papa of course!"_

_"Oh silly Fran!" She began to tickle the boy. "My kisses are unlimited, like the sky."_

_"Papa's aren't." Fran exclaimed happily, "He always saves the sweetest ones for mama!"_

_"Well isn't that sweet of papa?" _

_"What about papa?" A man called smiling as he approach them in the meadow. "What did papa do this time?"_

_"Ma père!" Fran shot up and ran to the man. _

_"Frannie!" The father took his hat off and placed in on the boy's head as he picked him up in his arms. _

_"Tell mama how you save the sweetest kisses for her!"_

_The man blushed sheepishly at the look his wife was giving him. He shrugged. "Anything for mi principessa." He winked._

_"Aha…" She grinned taking Fran back into her arms, "well aren't you the handsomest prince?"_

_The man beamed. _

_"I was talking about my Frannie." She winked back at him and Fran laughed joyously._

_"Well of course." The man smiled bowing his head at the boy in respects. _

_"Mama made soup today!" Fran exclaimed once again, "Papa's favorite kind!"_

_"Well then! Let's have some!" The father rubbed his stomach in emphasis. "I'm starving!" _

_"Good!" The mother said proudly leading the way back to the house, "Because Mama made a whole potful!"_

_Fran gasped bringing his small hands to his face. "A _whole_ potful!?" He tugged at his father's sleeve. "Hear that papa? A whole potful!"_

_"Yes Fran do you think we can finish it all?" _

_Fran beamed at his father, "Yeah! We'll finish the _whole _pot! Because we're big boys!"_

_They all laughed harmoniously. It was a dream, really._

_…_

* * *

This chapter was an odd one I felt like it was... not OOC, Out of Story maybe? Anyway I hope you don't find it too odd :) I promise the last chap will be a lot less confusing and not as long.

This week is midterms so it might take me a while to update.

Also I don't want to sound like a person that advertises themselves shamelessly but my family's been going through a hard time so I'm doing commissions to raise money. The commissions are 'name your price' so you can donate a quarter and it'll help. A link to my Deviant Art account is on my profile. I understand money is tight right now so it's okay if you can't donate anything. Send me a request anything, I love drawing and though I'm not all that great practice helps ^.^

Thank you for your time, see you all next chapter :)


	15. I know the winds will change

15. I know the winds will change; together we'll be caught in the rain.

_Dig a hole- William Beckett_

_**A.N.: This chapter gets a bit gory, just a heads up.**_

_Bel, _

_They're going to take me; this is what you have to do…_

_First, you should probably take Natalie home or somewhere safe. I would steal a car, after all those explosions no one will notice. _

_Then I need you to go home and grab some things…._

_Also try not to die please._

_I'm sure you'll prevail, and try to stick to the plan this time. _

_Uh… not sure what else to say… don't die… stick to the plan… yeah basics covered. Okay now here's what you're going to do…_

Bel wondered how long Fran had been planning this. It had to have been before the crash, at the club? Maybe before that, maybe when they were at the warehouse the first time? Who the hell knew? What Bel _did _know that Fran knew his stuff, and he had better stick to the plan this time, the stakes were far greater this time.

The blond drew his black hood over his face walking within the shadows of the buildings. He found his way back to the warehouse from a couple nights ago. So much had happened since then…

He went back behind the building, climbed over some tin boxes, and pried a cover off a vent. He looked at the map Fran had drawn out for him one last time before heading inside.

After a series of turns he popped off another vent cover and exited into a closet. If anyone had seen him they would have mistaken him for a shadow. He pulled a device from his pocket and taped it to the wall. He entered another vent and continued in a pattern of vent, closet, device, vent, closet, etc. Only stopping once to insert another device into one of the power control units, allowing him access into the main power grid.

Finally he was above the last room. He pulled out yet another device, different from the others, a small touch screen tablet. After fiddling with the settings he engaged the first of the devices. There was no hoping for anymore, this _had _to work.

…

"Join me Fran, you're still not safe. I can protect you."

Beneath the hidden blond he could hear the nameless man from two nights ago. The one he thought Fran had killed. Apparently he hadn't He continued to listen, listen for his cue.

"What's in it for me?"

What a relief it was to hear Fran's voice again. It brought a small ache to his gut.

"I don't think you have much of a say in this boy." The man laughed. "Do you not realize the situation you are in right now?"

"Do _you_ realize the situation _you are _in?" Fran retorted. "I could blow this place up in a heartbeat if I wanted to."

"But you wouldn't The man laughed. "We have him you know?" He bluffed; he pulled off a pretty good bluff. "Blowing the place up would be blowing him up as well."

Fran stopped as if considering the thought of Bel being captured. It was unlikely. Fran was too smart for his game.

"No, I'm sure you don't. I can read your face for the fat assed lie it is."

"Ay watch it kid." The man snarled.

"You know the real reason my mom didn't marry you? It's because you' were a loser dumb ass trying to use her for her money."

"You bastard!" The man grabbed the boy's neck and slammed him up against the wall.

"I'll kill you." A slick voice whispered into the man's ear, as he felt a cold sharp object at his neck. He quickly dropped the young man and stepped away from him, walking into the man who kept the knife at his throat.

Fran picked up the Hell ring from the floor and placed it back on his finger. His cuffs that held him to the cement blocks dissolving immediately. He stood up and began to walk slowly towards the man.

"I wouldn't do that." Fran said noticing the man push the panic button he had hidden on him. "They won't come. Bel made sure of that."

Bel let the man ran over to the door, he opened it to an empty hall. He looked down both ways, and continued to run down the hall ripping open one of the many doors.

The room he opened was filled with a yellow gas; he covered his mouth with his shirt. The room cleared to a good number of his men presumed dead on the floor, tables, and other furniture. He turned on his heal and went across the hall to look into another room. It was the same. Were all his men down already? That was unlikely.

He pulled out a radio from his jacket. "Ronson get your men down here now. Be wary of the smoke, hurry teams B through R are down!"

_"B through R? Are you sure boss?" A voice crackled in return._

"Yes I am dammit Ronson get down here!" His voice was panicked.

"Can I just kill him now?" Bel asked Fran as the duo made their way towards the man.

Fran looked at the man, his face darkened, "No. I'm not going to let him get off that easy."

The blond nodded as he understood.

"Tie him to that chair." He instructed, as the blond dragged the man back to the room Fran was originally being kept in.

He stood at the doorway and looked down the hall for any signs of the men. He walked back to the man and took the radio from him.

"Hey." He called into it. "It's too late; we've got your boss."

No response.

"I have an offer. Well it's not an offer really, you guys have no choice, but hey if you're lucky you might make it out alive." The young assassin smiled to himself. "I want to play a game. It's kind of a twist of hide-and-seek and capture the flag. It's simple really. You guys hide and we seek. We won't kill your boss until we've killed all of you. And if you can make it to your boss before that happens you can have him. How's that sound?"

Bel liked this game, he wondered if the boy was making it up on the spot.

_"How many men do you have?" A voice finally replied._

"There are only two of us."

_"What about that gas?"_

"No more sleepy time gas, I promise. And to make it fair we'll cut the power so we're both blind."

As he said so, Bel cut the power from the small tablet from earlier.

_"Where are you keeping the boss?"_

"In the room I was being held in. How many men do you have? So we know when we can kill your boss."

The person on the other side hesitated.

_"18."_

Bel showed him the screen of the device; it was a layout of the building with little red dots for the dead people and little green dots for those still alive.

"You're not lying, smart man. Very well let's begin." He tossed the radio back at the man in the chair frozen in sheer terror.

Bel wasn't going to lie, seeing Fran this way was scary… and kind of attractive at the same time.

He followed Fran out of the room.

"I'll take care of the first floor. You can take the second and if you have time the basement." Fran instructed. "I doubt there will be anyone down there but it wouldn't hurt to check. I'll meet you back in 15."

"Fran take it easy okay?"

The younger assassin looked back to eye the blond. Turned back and disappeared into the air. "Don't be late."

Fran was beautiful, but he was absolutely terrifying sometimes.

…

Bel had finished clearing the second floor only a couple minutes later.

He began to head to the basement when suddenly the floor began to shake beneath him. _An explosion?_ More like earthquake. _Fran._

_…_

_"Oi Lus I think the frog died." The blond assassin said as he walked into the kitchen in search of food._

_"Fran?" Lussuria was frying something, it looked like noodles. It smelled delicious. _

_"It's been 2 months since I've seen the stupid frog moping around the house." Bel said nonchalantly while inspecting the contents of the fridge._

_"Well Fran's on a special mission hon." Lussuria didn't know that Bel wasn't aware of this._

_Bel looked up at him from the fridge as he grabbed a water bottle and closed the door._

_"He's not going to be back for a really long time." The flamboyant man hesitated. He wasn't sure how Bel would take it._

_The blond looked at him for a second, well it seemed like it anyway. He shrugged and continued to exit the room._

_"They say it could take 20 years." Luss called out barely as he left. Was Bel going to be okay?_

_…_

_20 years!? _

_What kind of bullshit was that? _

_The young blond flopped back onto his bed with his hands behind his head. _

_It was incomprehensible, why would he leave? Bel didn't know if he was too pissed to act pissed, or so pissed at not being pissed that he was pissed. Whatever. _

_He pulled out a knife and began to examine it and with a flick it was stuck to the ceiling of the room. The ceiling was decorated other knives the young prince had flung at it previously. _

_He pulled out a couple more and continued to fling them up and around the first one. He made an 'F' and tried a 'R' then the 'A' came out looking like a 'D' and he gave up. _

_"Fuck it." He sighed and rolled over onto his stomach burying his face in his arms. After a couple more seconds he rolled over again made a noise of frustration and sat up. "Stupid frog."_

_…_

_"Oh Frannie I miss you so much! I've been so lonely; you know no one else likes to keep me company." The flamboyant man paused as Bel walked past. "Bel honey its Fran do you want to say hi?" He said covering the mouthpiece of the phone. _

_The blond continued to walk away without answering the colorful man._

_"Fran…"He returned to his conversation in a quieter tone. "I'm worried about Bel…"_

_…_

_'Click' was the sound the wooden door made as the lock released its hold. _

_The nob turned slowly. It was dark in the big mansion and rather late. There was also no noise in the mansion that night. _

_The door gave a muted whine as it opened and a stranger entered the room. His shadow walked across to where a bed sat empty in the center of the room. The man was a stranger to the room, haven't ever been inside it but glancing at it occasionally as he walked by or giving its owner orders._

_The room hadn't been lived in for some time. There was only little evidence that someone had lived there previously like some left over clothing, or a certain sweet mint scent._

_The blond walked around observing his surroundings, there was hardly any furniture. He walked over to the window and drew back the curtain a bit to look out to the dark night. Hoping that somewhere else a certain someone was looking out to the same night…_

_…_

_"Voi where are you going?!" The loudmouthed commander didn't bother looking up from his paperwork. _

_" I've given myself a vacation," The blond man said smugly. "I think I deserve one so I've taken it upon myself and gave myself a good year or so. I might return eventually, I'm leaving all my stuff here don't touch it."_

_"Voi brat who do you think you are?"_

_"I'm the prince." He smirked already heading to the door. "Ciao sharky!"_

_"Whatever brat it's gonna be _my_ head, you ungrateful little…" He trailed off, in all reality he knew something was up with the blond. Bel would never admit it but something had changed him, _someone_ had changed him and everyone knew who, so what was stopping him from doing something about it? His own damn pride! Not that Squalo could judge when it comes to the valor of pride, but still. Hopefully he would come to his senses eventually, and soon because Xanxus wouldn't take it very well it if he knew Bel went on 'vacation'. _

…

Surely Fran had taken the earthquake into account when he was planning all this. _This was all according to plan right? Don't be stupid Bel no one can predict earthquakes. _He slapped himself mentally and he took cover. The building didn't seem to have a very strong foundation as it was already sinking towards the middle. Maybe it had been affected by the rain from the other night as well.

As soon as the shaking stopped he ran back up the stairs, what was left of the stairs anyway. Some debris was still falling but Bel seemed to know what he was doing, as he navigated around it well. His stomach heavy with the dread of something gone awry. He searched Fran's floor without avail. He pulled out the tablet as an aftershock began to approach. He took cover again. The only living dot on the screen aside from himself was the one in the room they had been keeping Fran in.

Panic. He took off towards the room. It couldn't end like this. Fran was above this. He was a genius wasn't he?

He burst into the room.

The man was still strapped to the chair, panicked.

Behind him the younger assassin peered over at the blond.

"Took you a bit, run into problems much?" He said simply.

Relief. It was taking a moment to shake a dread off.

"Fran…" He finally breathed.

"What's wrong? You look kind of pale sempai." His voice was still masked by his monotone.

"It's nothing." He replied returning to character.

"Very well." He continued to walk in circles around the man who was sobbing now.

"Just do it already!" The man said exasperated.

Fran stopped considerably. His response sudden as he kicked the chair back.

"You have no right to tell me that." His voice was harsh and cold. He grabbed the back of the chair and stood it back up quickly.

"That would be letting you off easy. That wouldn't be fair would it?"

The man began to sob. "Please you don't think you've taunted me enough? You've killed all my men in front of me now this."

"Those men were nothing to you; they were all pawns in your little game." Fran was almost shouting. "You killed my family."

"But I didn't kill you!"

"You might as well have." He held a hand out palm up towards Bel. "Knife."

Bel placed a knife in his palm. Would he regret this?

The man's eyes widened in horror, but Fran wasn't done.

"You're selfish, you didn't deserve my mother, I'm glad my father came along and took what was rightfully his."

The man was angered now, "Rightfully his!? You didn't know your father kid, you didn't know your real father. He was a monster. Just look what he did to _you_. He sold your soul to the devil! He would have gotten his dumb ass killed anyway-" Fran slapped him again.

"_You_ were the one who didn't know my real father." He poked the man's face with the blade. "And I'm not stupid, my parents did what they did to save me. I was dying. And the fact that they were willing to sacrifice themselves for me is just more evidence that they loved me."

"You're a monster too." The man grinned, the tip of the knife piercing his skin as he did so. "You always will be, and you will never be able to run away from that. You're _cursed._ No," He looked over at Bel, "You_ are _a curse. To yourself and everyone around you. It's your fault they died anyway."

Fran dug the knife deeper and twisted it. "My fault?" He ripped the knife in the direction of his mouth splitting his cheek and lip open. The man cried out in pain.

"You're trying to pin this on me?!" He stabbed the knife into the man's shoulder with a firm grasp on the other he ripped it across his chest already soaked in blood from the blood that was drooling from his mouth. His cry drowned in gurgles.

"Don't even try. You killed them, it's all on _you." _ And with that he slit the man's throat.

…

Fran hadn't said a word since the warehouse. Bel found this scarier than before, which he hadn't even deemed possible. Neither said a word the whole drive home.

Home. As they entered Bel wondered if this had ever actually been 'home' to him. Had it ever been 'home' to Fran? Or was his home in those memories with his parents?

Fran walked straight to shower all the blood off without saying a word.

Bel went out to the balcony. He had felt suffocated in the car, and here in Fran's apartment it felt the same. The air was heavy with all that was Fran.

When the younger finished his shower, Bel followed. Only exiting when the water was running completely cold.

He changed and exited the bathroom to find Fran gone. He looked out the window to find him standing out in the balcony as he had before.

He approached him; he was staring off into the city playing with something in his hand. When he caught Bel looking at it he opened his palm to reveal his mother's necklace.

"Is it over?" Bel asked looking out to the city as well.

"Yeah," Fran said softly, "I almost don't believe it."

"Why?"

"I don't know-" His voice caught. He had been crying, Bel found it odd since it didn't seem like he had been. Probably in the shower or when Bel was in the shower. Possibly both.

Bel watched his profile. A tear slid down his cheek and he turned away. The blond reached for his hand and the younger tugged away, walking a couple steps away from him.

"I… can't believe I did that." He said finally as his knees gave in and he sunk to the floor curling up into a ball.

The blond walked over to his friend's side crouching down beside him, resting his hand on Fran's shoulder.

_Was this something that could be fixed?_

Moments later Fran stood up, his composure returning. The blond followed not sure if he was really okay.

The young assassin continued to look out into the night, the moon adding glow to his pale face. It gave Bel the urge to touch it, so he did, bringing Fran's attention back to himself.

"Sempai."

"Frog." Bel didn't take his hand from his face, the tip of his thumb brushing up softly against the swollen skin around Fran's eyes from his crying.

He hovered over the younger for what felt like a minute but was probably a lot shorter, before leaning down and kissing the frog.

Fran was hesitant at first, then he let go of whatever it was that was holding him back and simply let it happen.

Then after what felt like less than a minute but was probably a lot longer he pulled back his mind wavering.

"Sempai…" His eyes reflected the lighting. The bright moon hadn't moved but the sky was lightening as the day began to near its fifth hour. He returned his attention to the city, leaning against the balcony.

"You know the story of the seven princes of Hell no?"

"Yeah."

"I'm the soul, I'm the soul from the story." The illusionist glanced at the ring on his hand. "And you're Belphegor no? I don't know, but even if that's not the case, it's still not… I'm still… I'm still cursed."

"So?" Bel said with some disinterest, he took the younger's hand and slipped the ring off to examine it.

"I have to keep running."

"Why?"

"Or they'll find me."

"Well." Bel placed the ring back in his palm. "They can find us together."

"But-"

"Fran, this is _your _story not _theirs, _you can do whatever the hell you want okay?"

_Promise me that no matter how sad you are that you will never let your story be a sad story, okay? _

"My story," The illusionist smiled, "My story's not a sad one."

The blond returned the smile, and the duo continued to watch the sunrise from the balcony.

Shit was going to happen, but for now Fran was going to enjoy every second of his life while it was still under his control.

…

_Fran is beautiful._

He has this air in the way he carries himself. In the way he keeps a clean image during the worst of bloodshed In the way he masks his insecurity through his indifference. In the way he can be one step ahead but keeping an eye on your back at the same time.

And the way he was just so full of life.

Bel knew he didn't deserve the love of such a beautiful person.

But he was damn happy Fran thought so.

Because even if he didn't deserve to, he would always love the frog.

Fin.

* * *

OH MAH GEEZUS, you can shoot me. Haha this chapter was surprisingly hard to write. I couldn't fit enough closure into it in a way that is worthy of all you wonderful peoples :) So I will have a short epilogue after this chap to sum it all up. Feel free to drop questions and I will address them in the epilogue :D Hm what else...

Thank you peoples for all your support and it breaks my heart that we're nearing the end!

Thank you also for your support with my family, they appreciate it as well ^.^ Commissions are still open as well.

I think that's all... until next time beautifuls!


	16. Extra

Epilogue/Extra Chapter:

"VROIIIIII… Lus what the fuck are you doing?!"

The sound of various furniture being thrown across the room, echoed down from the master bedroom of the mansion.

The gay man squealed happily, and said something unintelligible from the distance.

"Is that a fucking camera you pervert?!" Squalo's voice sounded irritated. "Get the fuck OUTTT!"

"Ooh~ Squa! I had no idea you were so well built! You should walk around without a shirt more often~"

"Fucking Lussuria!"

"Oh I didn't mean to walk in to you guy's _flagrante delicto~ _I was just testing out my new camera~ But _pleeease_ don't mind me~!"

"Geeeeetttt OUUUUTT!" Squalo roared. "You damn pervert you know very damn well that Saturdays are- OWWW! WHAT THE FUCK XANXUS!?" One could assume that something had been thrown at the shark.

"Out. Now."

"But what about-"

Xanxus said something about a major turn off and Squalo continued to yell at Lussuria as they both faded into the distance.

"You know I kinda missed this place..." Fran admitted blankly staring past the movie on the large screened TV. "Kinda."

He sat on the floor cross-legged, a certain blond's head resting at his feet.

"Let's go on vacation." Bel suggested after a second.

"According to Squalo you're out of vacation hours." The younger assassin smirked as he twirled a lock of blond hair in between his thumb and forefinger.

"So?" Bel shifted himself to look up at him. "You just came back from an 8 year mission, you're overdue don't you think?"

From the angle Bel was looking at him, Fran caught the shine of his eyes. He reached over and brushed the rest of his bangs away from the older man's face. Fran was allowed to do that now, something he was ecstatic about since the blond's eyes were so pretty. Although he wasn't allowed to call them 'pretty' according to Bel, Fran would anyway.

He smiled. Something Bel was allowed to see now, he was ecstatic about since the boy's smile was so nice. Although he wasn't allowed to call it 'nice' according to Fran, Bel would anyway.

He sat up, and his bangs returned to their normal position.

"You need a haircut sempai." Fran noted.

"Your hair is longer than mine." Bel pointed out.

"Yeah? How about I wear it like this?" Fran brushed his hair to cover his face.

Bel combed it back for him, "That's no fun for me; I can't see your face."

"Yes, sempai that happens when you wear you hair in front of your face." The illusionist said with sarcasm as he combed the blond's hair back. "You should wear your hair like this." He continued, holding the blond's hair back with his fingers in a short ponytail. Some strands being too short at the front and dropping at the sides of his face.

"In a ponytail?" Bel gave the younger a look of mild irritation. "I'll look like a girl."

"Naw naw," Fran waved, "You look nice sempai."

"Well.." He pretended to consider it, " If the froggie likes it…" he tackled him down, "The froggy can wear a ponytail." He tied Fran's hair in a ponytail, and let him go.

"Sempai I _really _do look like a girl…" Fran said looking at his reflection in the full length mirror standing across the room.

"Yeah you do." Bel grinned his signature grin.

Fran got up and walked over to the dresser and rummaged through Bel's drawers. "Do you have scissors? I need a haircut."

Bel laughed, "No you don't, you look nice froggy."

"What's this?" Fran said pulling out an envelope from one of the drawers. "Natalie wrote you back already? She hasn't written me back, no fair."

"She said she got tired of writing the same thing twice and told me to let you read my letters since we live together anyway. Also you take forever to respond." Bel flopped onto his bed.

"Hey… I'm a busy person ok?" Fran smiled skimming through their old friend's letter.

"You're the one that came up with the letter thing, when you can just text her anyway. We're in the 21st century hello." The blond crawled to his pillow, far too lazy and tired to get under the covers. "She said she's gonna name her baby after you by the way."

"What?" Fran skimmed for that part of the letter. "God help him if he's a boy."

"I think it's a girl…" Bel mumbled drifting.

Fran finished the letter.

"Hey if we go on vacation we should-" He stopped, and smiled at the scene of Bel snoring away.

He put the letter back and kicked off his shoes, walking over to the bed to pull out the bed sheets from under the sleeping blond and placing them over him. He took off his shirt to sleep in his undershirt, and joined the blond under the sheets.

"Good night sempai."

"Mhmph… Frog."

"Love you too sempai."

Fin.

* * *

Ahhh there was so much more I wanted to add but I liked it like this :)

Sorry I took forever to update, I still had some midterm projects to do.

Anyway thank you all for sticking around and I hope you like this little chapter :)

Fair well all you wonderful peoples! :D


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